Achieve Life Sciences' Shares Rise on Positive Clinical Data
Achieve Life Sciences, Inc.’s ACHV shares rallied 28.2% following the announcement that the company’s smoking cessation candidate, cytisine, showed no significant drug-drug interaction in clinical studies.
Data suggests that treatment with cytisine as an aid to smoking cessation does not require modification of the dosages of any co-administered drug.
The company acquired global (excluding Central & Eastern Europe plus certain other territories) development and commercialization rights to cytisine from Bulgaria-based Sopharma in 2009-10. Cytisine has been marketed under the brand name Tabexa in Central and Eastern Europe by Sopharma for over 20 years.
Achieve Life Sciences has significantly underperformed the industry so far this year. The stock has declined 62.1% against the industry’s 2.1% increase.
The company is evaluating cytisine in a series of drug metabolism, drug-drug interaction and transporter clinical studies. An investigational new drug application was accepted by the FDA in August last year.
The company claimed in the press release that cytisine showed favorable outcomes in two previously completed phase III studies – TASC and CASCAID – comparing the candidate to placebo and nicotine replacement therapy, respectively.
In February, Achieve Life Sciences announced preliminary phase I/II pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) study of cytisine. Data showed that more than half of the patients administered with cytisine achieved smoking abstinence at day 26.
We note that Pfizer Inc. PFE markets Chantix (varenicline) for smoking cessation in adult smokers in the United States and Europe.
Other Players in the Industry
Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ENTA and Catalent, Inc. CTLT are two stocks in the same industry. Both stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Enanta’s earnings per share estimates increased from $3.16 to $3.17 for 2018 and from $2.81 to $3.13 for 2019 over the past 30 days. The company delivered a positive earnings surprise in three of the trailing four quarters with an average beat of 372.02%. The stock has rallied 93.2% so far this year.
Catalent’s earnings per share estimates moved up from $1.66 to $1.68 for 2018 and from $1.88 to $1.90 for 2019 over the past 60 days. The company delivered a positive earnings surprise in all the trailing four quarters with an average beat of 17.05%. The stock has rallied 1.5% so far this year.
The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of All
Last year, it generated $8 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $47 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce "the world's first trillionaires," but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early.
See Zacks' 3 Best Stocks to Play This Trend >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ENTA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Catalent, Inc. (CTLT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
