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 canceling 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 aftermarket 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.