New Trade Alert: Onconova Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ONTX)
Cancer affects millions of people annually, and expenditures for cancer care are expected to increase over the years.
The American Cancer Society estimates there will be approximately 1.74M cancer cases for 2018, or around 4,700 new cancer diagnoses per day.
According to the National Cancer Institute, National expenditures for cancer care in the U.S. alone totaled nearly $125B in 2010 and could reach over $150B in 2020.
The rising costs of treating cancer as well as the adverse affects associated with treatments like chemotherapies and traditional cytotoxic medications, has encouraged patients to seek alternative methods, in particular, small molecule targeted cancer therapies.
Unlike traditional treatments which can harm normal cells during treatment, small molecule targeted cancer therapy destroys cancer cells with high precision while normal cells are able to survive, thus making this treatment potentially more effective than traditional methods.
Small molecule targeted cancer treatments have an array of applications in various cancers, such as melanoma, prostate cancer, lymphoma, breast cancer, multiple myeloma and all other cancers.
ONTX “is a Phase 3-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel small molecule drug candidates to treat cancer, with a primary focus on Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS)”.
“Rigosertib, [ONTX’s] lead candidate, is a proprietary Phase 3 small molecule agent, which Onconova believes blocks cellular signaling by targeting RAS effector pathways.”
“Using a proprietary chemistry platform, Onconova has created a pipeline of targeted agents designed to work against specific cellular pathways that are important in cancer cells.”
“Onconova has three product candidates in the clinical stage and several pre-clinical programs.”
“Advanced clinical trials with the Company’s lead compound, rigosertib, are aimed at what the Company believes are unmet medical needs of patients with MDS.”
ONTX has reported multiple news developments over the past few weeks:
March 26th: Onconova Presents Promising Data from Phase 2 Expansion Study of Oral Rigosertib and Azacitidine Combination in Patients with Myelodysplastic Syndromes at 6th International Bone Marrow Failure Disease Symposium
March 15th: Onconova Therapeutics to Present Data on a First-in-class Dual Inhibitor of CDK4/6 + ARK5 at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018
“NEWTOWN, Pa., March 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Onconova Therapeutics, Inc. (ONTX), a Phase 3-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel products to treat cancer, with a primary focus on myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), will present new data on ON 123300, a dual inhibitor of CDK4/6 + ARK5, at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018 being held on April 14 – 18 in Chicago, Illinois.”
March 5th: Onconova Therapeutics Announces License Agreement with Pint Pharma to Commercialize Rigosertib for Treatment of Myelodysplastic Syndromes in Latin America
“Under the terms of the agreement, Onconova has granted to Pint Pharma an exclusive license to commercialize rigosertib in Latin America. In exchange for these rights, Pint will make investment totaling up to $2.5 million by purchasing shares at a premium to market. In addition, Pint Pharma will make additional regulatory, development and sales-based milestone payments to Onconova of up to $42.75 million and pay double digit tiered royalties on net sales in Latin America. Onconova will supply the finished product for sale in the licensed territories. Pint Pharma will also support Onconova’s clinical trial initiatives in the territory.”
ONTX has been trading below its 20 and 50 day moving averages of 0.85 and 0.99, respectively.
ONTX reached a low of 0.60 today after the company filed an S-1 Registration statement (source below). If ONTX stays above this low this could present you with upside potential.
ONTX is extremely volatile so make sure to follow your trading rules.
However, don’t take my word for it, make sure to do your own due diligence.