Fortunes Being Made in Small-Cap Pharmaceutical Stocks

• By the tickerspy.com Staff
• On 10:30 am EDT, Monday October 5, 2009

Small-cap drug makers are making breakthroughs left and right in 2009.

Menlo Park, California-based DepoMed (NASDAQ: DEPO - News) currently has drugs on the market for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and uncomplicated urinary tract infections. Based on results from its latest clinical trials, the company's DM-1976 experimental pain drug could be next.

According to a press release, the drug "achieved a statistically significant reduction of pain associated with postherpetic neuralgia" in a late-stage trial. The company expects to submit a new drug application to the FDA by the end of Q1 2010.

DepoMed's 27% rally is helping the Diabetes Stocks Index higher today. The Index has now outperformed the S&P 500 by 17.5% over the last month.

Clinical stage pharmaceutical player Mankind (NASDAQ: MNKD - News) and Home Diagnostics (NASDAQ: HDIX - News) have also tacked on double-digit gains over the last month. The latter specializes in blood glucose monitoring systems and disposable supplies for diabetics.

Elsewhere in the small-cap pharmaceutical market, Opexa (NASDAQ: OPXA - News) and Neuralstem (AMEX: CUR - News) have helped carry the Stem Cell Stocks Index to monthly gains, while Osiris (NASDAQ: OSIR - News) and StemCells (NASDAQ: STEM - News) have weighed on the sector's performance.

Investors can also look for action in the Swine and Bird Flu Stocks Index, where AVI Biopharma (NASDAQ: AVII - News) is running by 25% today on news related to its Junin virus drug candidate.

As of this writing, the Diabetes Stocks Index is on top of tickerspy's one-month performance rankings, up by 18.7%.

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