A Half-Dozen Insiders Buy This Upstart High Risk/High Reward Biotech

They must have spent their money on hamburgers and hotdogs for Fourth of July cookouts because they weren’t buying stock. Insider buying slowed last week in advance of the long weekend. Based on airline and traffic figures, a lot of folks headed out early last week. Who can blame anybody for wanting to get away after a year of living the COVID-19, lockdown lifestyle.

Of the little that was available, we found just one company for consideration this week. Vincerx Pharma, Inc. (VINC). LifeSci Acquisition Corporation merged with Vincera Pharma on September 29, 2020, in a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) transaction. (1) VINC shares opened at $11.75 on that day.

Since, Vincerx has been as high as $26.75 in early March 2021. After peaking, Wall Street hammered the stock, knocking it down to $11 on June 25, 2021. Six insiders bought the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical’s shares on June 29th and 30th between $12.58 and $12.94. (2) Together, they invested $391,348.

The half-dozen buys began the day after Vincerx announced they were being added to the Russell 3000 and Microcap® Indexes as part of the 2021 Russell indexes annual reconstitution. (3) The stock rallied after the index news and trades at $14.50 as we type. Wall Street predicts VINC will more than double from its current level with a one-year price target of $33.

As a clinical-stage biotech that seeks new therapies to address unmet medical needs for the treatment of cancer, shareholders will be news dependent. Currently, the upstart has five treatments in their pipeline; all of which are in the early stages of the approval process.

Their small molecule drug program includes VIP152, which is a highly selective, clinical-stage positive transcription elongation factor beta/cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (PTEFb/CDK9) inhibitor. Their antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) platform includes VIP943 (targeting CD123) and VIP924 (targeting CXCR5), which are next-generation ADC compounds addressing known and novel oncology targets that the company believes could deliver a greater safety and efficacy profile than current ADC compounds. The bioconjugation program also includes VIP236, which is a small molecule drug conjugate (SMDC) for solid tumors. (5)

According to Grand View Research, Inc, the worldwide, antibody-drug conjugate is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.9% through 2025, reaching $9.93 billion. (6) It’s a fast-growing market with tremendous opportunity for companies that receive FDA approvals.

Overview: Because VINC doesn’t have any products, sales and earnings are essentially overlooked right now. There are no fundamentals as everything is based on potential and not actual results. It’s sort of a biotech lottery ticket that doesn’t expire after the numbers are drawn.

The stock will swing wildly based on clinical results due to the explosive nature of the ADC market. Good news and positive development for its candidates is likely to send shares soaring. Bad news and the stock drop will give investors the lost money blues.

As such, Vincerx Pharma, Inc. (VINC) is only appropriate for speculative investors who can afford to lose most, or maybe all, of their investment in the event VINC doesn’t bring a product to market.

 

1 – https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/09/29/2100519/0/en/LifeSci-Acquisition-Corp-Announces-Merger-Agreement-with-Vincera-Pharma-Inc-to-Create-New-Publicly-Listed-Oncology-Company.html

2 – https://www.secform4.com/insider-trading/1796129.htm

3 – https://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/vincerx-pharma-announces-inclusion-in-russell-3000r-and-microcapr-indexes-2021-06-28

4 – https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/VINC?p=VINC

5 – https://vincerx.com/pipeline/

6 – https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-antibody-drug-conjugates-market