IONS

A Phase 2 clinical trial, ACROBAT Edge, evaluating Crinetics Pharmaceuticals' (CRNX) lead candidate paltusotine (formerly CRN00808) for the treatment of acromegaly met the primary endpoint. Specifically, once-daily oral doses of

While it’s a good idea to go through your portfolio at least once a quarter and evaluate how your stocks are doing, special circumstances dictate that you do it more scrupulously, and our present pandemic certainly counts. The markets are caught in limbo, awaiting another stimulus package after a massive run from late March through September. The biggest winners have been tech stocks, especially biotechs and pharmaceutical companies. Much of that hype initially centered on the race for a COVID-19 vaccine. But it then filtered through the entire industry, since many companies that were once small-time outsiders were launched into headliners with a cure.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips Diagnostic companies, testing and healthcare equipment companies all started rising as well. But we’re in a different place now. 7 Airline Stocks to Buy on Pelosi Stimulus Hopes Here are 7 unhealthy biotech stocks to sell before they sicken your portfolio: Galapagos NV (NASDAQ:GLPG) Heron Therapeutics (NASDAQ:HRTX) Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) REGENXBIO (NASDAQ:RGNX) Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) China Biologic Products (NASDAQ:CBPO) Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) For these biotech stocks, the ardor has cooled. While these aren’t terrible stocks, they’re stocks best exited before a correction hits or their momentum slows further. Unhealthy Biotech Stocks to Sell: Galapagos NV (GLPG) Source: Jarretera / Shutterstock.com Based in Belgium, this biotech focuses on small molecule and antibody therapies, aiming to discover novel drug targets. Last summer, Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) announced it was investing around $5 billion in the company, which sent the stock flying. But the pandemic crushed the stock and just as it began climbing back, it was hit by news that its osteoarthritis drug in development with GILD failed FDA trials. Even with the cash infusion, this is a costly setback, as the company has to spend more on trials that may or may not get it approval. And it pushes back the possible launch date and increases its burn rate. Down 40% year to date, there’s still more downside risk. Heron Therapeutics (HRTX) Source: Shutterstock While only sporting a $1.4 billion market cap, this biotech has two drugs recently approved by the FDA (one of which is coming this week). Both drugs are antiemetics (drugs that reduce nausea and vomiting) to be used in conjunction with chemotherapy for cancer patients. But its biggest ace, still in trials in the U.S. and the E.U., is a non-addictive, non-opioid painkiller. Unfortunately, the opioid epidemic has been supplanted by the pandemic. So this boutique biotech has been pushed to the back burner. 7 Airline Stocks to Buy on Pelosi Stimulus Hopes Down 34% year to date, if the market sells off, HRTX is going with it. Ionis Therapeutics (IONS) Source: Shutterstock There’s a novel approach in biotech called antisense therapeutics. It basically alters pieces of messenger RNA so when the body builds new DNA strands from that RNA, it can help mitigate certain diseases. IONS has been involved in antisense therapeutics since 1989. And it has two drugs available in the U.S. and one in the E.U. All work to help people with rare diseases better manage their symptoms. The massive chemical conglomerate Bayer (OTCMKTS:BAYRY) is a partner and just recently took over development and production of an IONS clotting drug. IONS is down 23% year to date and there’s nothing, good or bad, that is going to move the stock anytime soon. REGENXBIO (RGNX) Source: Shutterstock Boasting a $1 billion market cap, RGNX has a number of partnerships with leading drug makers to use its gene therapy solutions for a variety of different pathologies. One of the drugs it worked on with Novartis (NYSE:NVS) was lucrative enough that RGNX didn’t have to look for cash for other projects by issuing more stock. Unfortunately, a big impending payment from NVS looks like it has been pushed further into the future due to an FDA ruling. 7 Airline Stocks to Buy on Pelosi Stimulus Hopes The stock is down 33% year to date, and absent any other big news from its partners, is likely to hang fire at best. Illumina (ILMN) Source: Shutterstock This major gene sequencing company should be going gangbusters here. And it was doing pretty well after the March market dive. But in late September it announced it was re-buying cancer-screening start-up, Grail for $8 billion. Grail had been a division of ILMN a few years ago and it was spun off with big-name investors Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos buying in. ILMN stock got hammered on the announcement because many of the industry analysts couldn’t understand why it buy Grail back, since its leading product puts ILMN in direct competition with some of its other customers that are working on similar technologies. The stock has regained some of that value, but it’s still not clear how it’s going to move forward with this major purpose. Down 4% year to date, there’s as much risk as promise here, and it’s expensive. China Biologic Products (CBPO) Source: Shutterstock As the race for a vaccine or cure for COVID-19 continues around the globe, there are other diseases that still need attention as well. That’s where CBPO comes in. It has a portfolio of plasma-based drugs for the treatment of everything from tetanus and rabies to hepatitis B. The problem is, the pandemic has changed the priorities of both patients and healthcare professionals. And that has meant some conditions don’t rise to the level of attention they did before the pandemic. This can be seen in CBPO’s second-quarter earnings. Sales were off, while income and profits also lagged. And earnings missed consensus. 7 Airline Stocks to Buy on Pelosi Stimulus Hopes While the stock is only off 2% year to date, it may be stuck here for a while. Ligand Pharmaceuticals (LGND) Source: Casimiro PT / Shutterstock.com LGND is a R&D contracting firm for biotech and pharmaceutical companies. It develops drug candidates and then it partners with a firm that will take it through trials and market it. This means LGND doesn’t bear the costs and risks associated with bringing a drug to market and the drug company doesn’t have to invest on an in-house R&D staff and facilities. LGND makes its money off negotiated royalty payments from its partners. Currently, LGND is receiving royalties from 9 different drugs on the market now. But the pandemic has shifted resources for its customer base, putting LGND in a tough spot. That’s best illustrated by the fact that 63% of its stock is now in short positions. The stock is already down 20% year to date. On the date of publication, Louis Navellier has no long positions in any of the stocks in this article. Louis Navellier did not have (either directly or indirectly) any other positions in the securities mentioned in this article.  The InvestorPlace Research Staff member primarily responsible for this article did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. More From InvestorPlace Why Everyone Is Investing in 5G All WRONG Top Stock Picker Reveals His Next 1,000% Winner Radical New Battery Could Dismantle Oil Markets Revolutionary Tech Behind 5G Rollout Is Being Pioneered By This 1 Company The post 7 Unhealthy Biotech Stocks To Sell Before They Sicken Your Portfolio appeared first on InvestorPlace.

The market overreacted last week to the early-stage clinical program setback, the discontinuation of VX-814 due to toxicity problems.However, last week's reaction underscores the need to expand the pipeline.Vertex is attractively valued at current levels based on the cystic fibrosis franchise alone, but there is a limit to value creation from the franchise.The company will likely use its growing cash balance to address the problem in the following quarters and years.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: IONS), the leader in antisense therapeutics, today announced that the first patients have been dosed with ION541 (also known as BIIB105), an investigational antisense medicine being developed as a potential therapy to treat most forms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) regardless of family history. This is another milestone in the continuing progress of Ionis' ambitious program to develop novel treatments for ALS. Almost all cases of ALS share the pathological hallmark of TDP-43 protein aggregation in motor neurons. ION541 targets ataxin-2 RNA (ATXN2), which has been shown to prevent or reverse TDP-43 toxicity in preclinical models of ALS.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS) has dosed the first patients in Phase 1/2 trial with ION541 (also known as BIIB105), an investigational antisense medicine, underdevelopment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ((ALS)). The event has triggered

- Trial will evaluate ION541 (BIIB105) for treatment of most forms of ALS regardless of family history - Tofersen and IONIS-C9Rx also currently in clinical trials targeting genetic forms of the disease CARLSBAD,

Akcea merged back into Ionis.Ionis has commercial revenues and an immense clinical pipeline.It is a company to own for this decade, and the stock price is reasonable.

Biogen has embraced Ionis antisense technology for neurology targets.A new Gene Therapy Accelerator Unit was formed last year and has facilitated the creation of new business units and collaborations in 2020.The stock has been in a holding pattern for six years. Once pipeline progress is apparent, the upside opportunity is substantial.