Why JMP Securities Is Watching (And Loving) These Three Biotech Stocks

In a report published Tuesday, JMP Securities names three biotech stocks it is watching: Acceleron Pharma Inc. XLRN, Cardiovascular Systems, Inc. CSII and Karyopharm Therapeutics KPTI. Wonder why?

-       Acceleron’s (Market Outperform, $52 price target) early stage clinical results at ASCO Genitourinary(GU) 2015 “support a positive outlook for maturing PFS results while providing encouragement for ongoing later stage development.” According to the firm’s analyst Michael G. King, the data is “not only encouraging because of the continued exceptional overall response rate (ORR) of 25% described in the abstract, but also because of the insight into the expected progression free survival of the fully mature Part I dataset.”

-       Cardiovascular Systems (Market Outperform, $44 price target) released on Monday its two-year data from its ORBIT II study of the Diamondback 360 Coronary Orbital Atherectomy System (OAS) in treating severely calcified lesions. “The new data reaffirms that CSI’s orbital atherectomy technology is a safe and effective treatment option for severely calcified arteries. The MACE rate at two years was 19.8%, up only slightly from 16.4% at one year. MI rates remained unchanged at 9.7%. We [the analysts] are encouraged by these positive clinical results and believe that they will continue to drive adoption of orbital atherectomy in the coronary setting.”

-       Karyopharm (Market Outperform, $57 price target) recently published data “demonstrating the reduction of disease progression in two separate mouse models of multiple sclerosis with two Selective Inhibitors of Nuclear Export (SINE) compounds of exportin 1 (XPO-1). This decrease was attributed to two main mechanisms by the SINE compounds: a) via reduction of neuronal inflammation; and b) by prevention of toxic factors in the brain from causing damage to the neuronal myelin coating.” According to analyst Michael G. King, “these data highlight a meaningful and potential clinical opportunity for the oral drug KPT-350 that is currently in development for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases; and specifically, for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients who are averse to infusions or injections with leading treatments on the market, such as Avonex (BIIB, NC) or Copaxone (TEVA, NC) or are unable to tolerate the GI issues that may be associated with an oral drug like Tefcidera (BIIB, NC).”