Are you looking for biotech stocks that could shoot higher? Wall Street analysts who cover the stocks on this list think they could provide some eye-popping gains.
Every stock on this list has a consensus price target that's 91% above its present price. Two of these stocks are expected to more than double. Here's why.
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1. ChemoCentryx
ChemoCentryx (CCXI) stock more than doubled recently, after the FDA granted approval to its first drug. Now, the company can market avacopan to thousands of patients with a rare disorder under the brand name Tavneos.
Analysts who follow ChemoCentryx think the stock market hasn't fully appreciated Tavneos' potential. The average price target on the stock represents a 91% gain over its recent price.
Independent drug launches are dangerously unpredictable, but the Tavneos launch has a strong chance of success. Tavneos was approved to treat adults with a rare autoimmune disorder called antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis. Left untreated, these patients' own immune systems go berserk and destroy heaps of tiny blood vessels.
Existing care for ANCA-associated vasculitis generally involves steroids, but this method has significant side effects. As a relatively tolerable oral treatment for complement-mediated immune disorders, annual Tavneos sales could pass $1 billion in just a few years.
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2. Ocular Therapeutix
Ocular Therapeutix (OCUL -22.69%) stock swelled recently, after the FDA approved a label expansion for the company's lead drug, Dextenza. This is a proprietary hydrogel insert that slides into patients' tear ducts, where it painlessly bathes the eye with dexamethasone.
Wall Street analysts are convinced Dextenza's future is a lot brighter than Ocular Therapeutix's price suggests right now. The consensus price target on the stock suggests a further gain of 105% is possible.
Dextenza contains the same active ingredient eye doctors have been prescribing to soothe inflamed eyeballs for decades. Instead of relying on drops for intermittent relief, Dextenza reduces inflammation every minute of every day for around a month before it melts away.
The FDA first approved Dextenza in November of 2018 to reduce ocular inflammation following surgery, such as cataract removal. Dextenza sales reached an annualized $44 million in the second quarter and the recent expansion to treat allergic conjunctivitis could push this figure much higher. Every year, an estimated 10 million Americans seek treatment to reduce inflammation that arises because of an eye allergy.
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3. Axsome Therapeutics
Axsome Therapeutics (AXSM -5.72%) therapeutics stock plummeted in August and the stock is still down 62% from a peak it reached at the beginning of 2020. Wall Street analysts who follow the stock are expecting it to come roaring back. The average price target on the stock represents a 109% gain.
This summer, Axsome Therapeutics shareholders were expecting the FDA to approve the company's lead candidate, AXS-05, for the treatment of the major depressive disorder. The stock tanked when the company told investors the FDA wouldn't approve the drug in time for the PDUFA date on August 22, 2021.
Axsome Therapeutics presented compelling pivotal trial data that warrant AXS-05's approval. If the FDA changes its tune regarding the treatment and major depressive disorder, this stock will explode higher. Even if nothing becomes of AXS-05, there's another application winding its way through the FDA's review process.
In September, the agency began reviewing an application to treat migraine headaches with Axsome Therapeutics' second most advanced drug candidate, AXS-07. The agency set the PDUFA date for April 30, 2022. Hopefully, the agency can keep to its own schedule this time around.
