DRRX, PPHM & Extended Watchlist

Durect Corp. DRRX

We are putting DRRX on our radar this morning; it has recently come off of a bottom, and is gaining some momentum as it begins its recovery. Prior to May, this pharmaceutical play was trading at a base level well above 1.20, before seeing a large spike followed by a sharp dropoff. If DRRX can break through resistance at the 50DMA & 200DMA there’s a chance it could come up to fill that gap on the chart. A return to previous levels from here could yield gains of up to 20%

In addition to a connection with pharma giant Pfizer, the company has also gotten FDA acceptance of a New Drug Application (NDA) as outlined in yesterday’s PR:

CUPERTINO, Calif., June 20, 2013 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — DURECT Corporation (Nasdaq: DRRX) today announced that the New Drug Application (NDA) for the investigational product POSIDUR (SABER-Bupivacaine) has been accepted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) indicating that the application is sufficiently complete to permit a substantive review. POSIDUR is a post-operative pain relief depot that utilizes DURECT’s patented SABER technology to deliver bupivacaine and is designed to provide up to three days of pain relief after surgery. DURECT submitted the NDA as a 505(b)(2) application. The Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) goal date (the date the FDA expects to complete its review of the NDA) has been confirmed as February 12, 2014.


Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc. PPHM

Speaking of pharmaceutical plays, one of the stocks that we continuously monitor is PPHM. Many of you will remember back in May when the stock provided us with some serious opportunities for profit.

Recently PPHM has been in a marked downtrend, and as you can see on the chart below, indicators seem to confirm this fact. We are going to want to put this one on bottom watch over the next several sessions, as the resulting bounce/s could be significant.


Side Note: 

Since Ben Bernanke’s recent comments regarding the Fed’s upcoming tapering of quantitative easing measures, markets have been in freefall. If no reversal occurs and that remains the overall trend, we are going to want to keep an eye on SPY Puts, VIX/VXX Calls.


Extended Watchlist:
ONCI, ONCO, LIVE, KERX, MSTX