Article By:
MoneyShow.com
Saturday, December 9, 2023 12:05 AM EDT
Biotech stocks are still in the process of repairing the damage from recent months — and recent years. Indeed, as of a month ago, the SPDR Biotech Fund had been dead money for an unbelievable eight and a half years
Are These Biotechs Ready To Launch?
Looking past the mega-caps are many names that have great potential, including Intra-Cellular Therapies ($ITCI), which has something special with its Caplyta treatment. This drug was on the market for schizophrenia starting in March 2020 and saw solid growth (from zero to 2,000 prescriptions per month) through 2021, but then came a broad approval for bipolar depression, which has bumped the prescription figures to an average of 8,500 during the past two years. It’s the only therapy approved for both bipolar I and II both as a stand-alone and combo offering. Given that there are 11 million bipolar sufferers in the U.S. alone, the potential is huge. Meanwhile, Intra-Cellular is in Phase III trials with Caplyta for major depressive disorder, which is a market potentially twice the size of bipolar. Clinical data released back in March was superb. Sales growth is slowing as the figures get larger, but revenues still rose 76% in Q3, with 2024 expected to bring a 41% gain (likely conservative), with tons of upside if/when MDD approval hits down the road. ITCI has been range bound since April of 2022, but is showing some solid strength since the market low.