Genocea Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:GNCA)
Genocea Biosciences, Inc. (GNCA), a biopharmaceutical company yesterday announced that it will stop spending and activities for its GEN-003 genital herpes drug and will explore other alternatives for the drug.
Genocea also announced that it will now focus on its GEN-009 cancer vaccine which is in early stages of development. Genocea is planning to file an Investigational New Drug (IND) application by early 2018. Due to the cancelling of GEN-003 the company will be reducing its workforce by roughly 40 percent.
Genocea Biosciences, Inc. CEO’s Comments
Chip Clark, president and chief executive officer of Genocea, commented: “With our research and development efforts now focused entirely on neoantigen cancer vaccines, we believe the power of ATLAS to identify the right vaccine antigens, combined with our vaccinology expertise, gives us the opportunity to create value for our shareholders by developing best-in-class vaccines for cancer patients and achieving leadership in this exciting field.
“To our teammates who’ve given so much to advance GEN-003, we offer our profound thanks for their dedication. Due to their efforts, GEN-003 has the potential to serve as a cornerstone treatment for genital herpes infections. We see this strategic process, which is already underway, as the best way to drive to commercial launch of and maximize shareholder value from GEN-003.” Globe Newswire
GNCA Technical Analysis
GNCA opened trading yesterday at $5.24 which was down from the previous day’s trading close of $5.29. Shares closed trading yesterday at $5.33 and spiked down after market to $2.70, equivalent to a 49% decrease from the closing price. Taking a look at the daily chart we can see the last time GNCA traded below these levels we have to go back to February 8th, 2016 when it traded at lows $2.56.
Taking a closer look at the daily chart we can see that before the spike down GNCA had been in an overall downward trend dating back to June 26th when it traded at $6.17. GNCA has a float of 22.89 million shares and traded below the normal daily trading volume on Monday.
For trading purposes, I would like to see GNCA open trading on Tuesday below $3.50 and if it does I would be looking to take a short position at the bell. My stop loss would be $0.25 from my entry position fearing anything more than that and the stock would start to fill in the gap up.
Company Profile
Genocea Biosciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, engages in developing T cell-directed vaccines and immunotherapies to treat infectious diseases and cancer. The company uses AnTigen Lead Acquisition System (ATLAS), its proprietary discovery platform to build a pipeline of immunotherapies and its first neoantigen cancer vaccine.
Its lead product candidate is GEN-003, a therapeutic vaccine or immunotherapy that is in Phase 2 trial for the treatment of genital herpes infections. The company is also developing GEN-009, which is in pre-clinical stage for the treatment of immuno-oncology-neoantigen; and GEN-007 that is in research stage for the treatment of Epstein-Barr virus. Genocea Biosciences, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.