4 Top Biotech Penny Stocks to Watch in April 2021

High-Volume Penny Stocks to Watch Right Now 

As another week in April comes to an end, what are the best penny stocks to watch right now? While this is not a simple question by any means, there are some solid examples of penny stocks that could be worth a closer look. This is due to a combination of fundamental confidence in a company's business model and belief in its short or long-term future.

With biotech penny stocks, these principles are largely the same with one or two exceptions. Those being, what does it have in its pipeline, and how far along are those compounds or devices? This is the best way to tell whether investors can expect short-term speculative gains or long-term stable gains with certain penny stocks.

So with this in mind, where does the market stand right now in April 2021? Well, only a day ago, stocks were mostly mixed, as investors await the beginning of the Q1 2021 earnings season. On April 8th, tech stocks led gains, with Alphabet Inc. GOOGL, Facebook Inc. FB, and others hitting all-time highs. On April 9th, the focus is on biotech.

Penny Stocks Boosted By Reopening Sentiment

The bullish sentiment in the stock market right now seems to be driven by the hopes that the pandemic will soon come to an end.

“A big part of this is making sure the vaccine-led recovery is firmly rooted, and that won't be clear until somewhere in the second half of this year. So it's possible that as we look out to the late summer timeframe or early fall that that's something we could consider at that point.”

Jeffrey Kleintop, an analyst at Charles Schwab

Yes, there are a lot of unknowns right now. But the groundwork in place could provide a launching point for the next phase of economic reopening. 

4 High-Volume Penny Stocks to Watch Right Now 

As for biotech, there is a lot going on in the market right now. While some companies are seeing interest as a result of Covid-related treatments, others are simply seeing a correlative gain from the pandemic. Regardless, 2021 is proving to be the year of biotech penny stocks. And with so many to choose from, it all comes down to finding the best ones to watch. Considering all of this, let's take a look at four high-volume penny stocks to watch right now. 

• Mereo BioPharma Group Plc. MREO
• Caladrius Biosciences Inc. CLBS 
• Briacell Therapeutics Corp. BCTX 
• Auris Medical Holding Ltd. EARS

Mereo Biopharma Group Plc. 

Mereo Biopharma is a biopharmaceutical company working on a range of innovative therapeutics. This includes those used in the treatment of oncological disorders and rare diseases. Right now, Mereo has six clinical-stage products. Its leading product, known as etigilimab (Anti-TIGIT), is advancing into a Phase 1b/2 basket study that will evaluate its efficacy in treating certain cervical, ovarian and endometrial carcinomas. The next runner-up is navicixizumab, used in the treatment of late line ovarian cancer.

At the end of March, Mereo reported its full-year financial results. Dr. Denise Scots-Knight, CEO of Mereo, stated that "despite the challenging landscape presented by the ongoing pandemic, this past year has been one of continued execution for Mereo, and I believe that 2020 was a highly successful and exciting year for the Company."

Throughout the year, the company managed to raise more than $183 million through a "combination of private placements, convertible loans, and most recently, a public offering in February 2021." During the year, Mereo also managed to decrease its development expenses by 44%. The company states that it should have enough funding from these events to stay on track into 2024.

Heading into next week, Mereo will be presenting at the Needham Virtual Healthcare Conference. If this is on your list of penny stocks, keep that in mind as the presentation will be on April 12th.

Caladrius Biosciences Inc. 

Another clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company is Caladrius Biosciences Inc. It develops a full line of cellular therapies designed to reverse disease. The company utilizes the principles of self-repair in the body to develop first-in-class technological advancements. This is seen with its large pipeline of therapeutics. In development are several drugs used to treat everything from Buerger's disease to critical limb ischemia (CLI). Last month, Caladrius made headlines when it received Orphan Drug Designation for CLBS12 to treat Buerger's disease. 

David J. Mazzo, CEO of the company stated that “we are very pleased that the FDA has granted orphan drug designation to CLBS12 in Buerger's disease. Without a currently approved or effective treatment for this condition in the U.S., a significant unmet need remains for therapies that slow, stop or, ideally, reverse this debilitating disease.”

In the results, 60% of subjects reached a positive ‘CLI-free" endpoint. While this is a condition that only affects 200,000 people in the U.S., currently no known treatments work the same way as CLBS12. And, this is only one of many compounds in its clinical pipeline. For these reasons, CLBS stock remains a popular penny stock for investors to watch. 

Briacell Therapeutics Corp. 

Briacell Therapeutics is another biotech company, but one that is more specialized than those mentioned above. It focuses on immuno-oncology, developing drugs to treat and manage cancer. In February, Briacell announced the closing of a sizable $25 million public offering. The proceeds from this sale will go toward funding clinical trials, R&D, and general working capital. Currently, Briacell has several therapeutics in its pipeline. This includes its lead candidate, Bria-IMT, in a combination study with Incyte's INCY INCMGA00012 and epacadostat to see its efficacy in treating breast cancer. 

It also offers an off-the-shelf product known as Bria-OTS, which can be used without the need for personalized manufacturing. This compound produces a selective immune response against specific cancer, vastly reducing the time and capital that usually goes into developing personalized cancer therapies.

On April 10th, Briacell will participate in the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2021. In the meeting, it will show results and clinical findings from the trial of Bria-IMT alone and in combination with checkpoint inhibitors. These meetings are important for investors as they allow for insight into what a company is doing right now. Ahead of this exciting conference, investors might want to take a closer look at BCTX. 

Auris Medical Holding Ltd.

Auris Medical Holding has had a volatile month. However, it seems like things are turning around for the company. The biopharmaceutical company develops therapeutics to treat medical needs related to neurotology, rhinology, and allergy. There are a few reasons that momentum could have picked up for Auris.

One reason is an upcoming business update for its AM-301 Program that it announced on April 8^th. The details of this business update will be released next week on April 13^th. Considering this program helps protect against airborne viruses and allergens, this technology could help protect users from COVID-19.

The Chairman and CEO of the company Thomas Meyer said, "With a highly dedicated team, we managed to develop in less than six months a drug-free nasal spray that reduced the SARS-CoV-2 viral titer in a model representative of the human nasal mucosa by more than 99%."

When Auris announced this business update, EARS stock shot up by 26%. With the upcoming details on its current AM-301 platform developments coming next week, EARS could be one of the top biotech penny stocks to watch right now.