Corcept Therapeutics (CORT) is one of the pharma firms I've been following over months.
The firm expects its III trial on Corlux for Cushing's Syndrome (Wiki on Cushing's Syndrome http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cushing%27s_syndrome) this month.
If the data is positive, the upside profit will be pretty handsome for long position.
According to Alan Leong of Minyaville, "Cushing’s syndrome occurs when the body is exposed to excessive levels of cortisol....symptoms will immediately resolve upon the administration of Corlux..." http://www.minyanville.com/investing/articles/corcept-therapeutics-big-pharma-biotech-sector/12/9/2010/id/31614
You know, I have seen many drugs to mitigate depression and all, but most of them had strong side effects of weight gain. Many cancer patients do take them as well as psychologically-difficult patients. So you know the market is huge; "Antipsychotics were the top-selling class of drugs in 2009 with worldwide sales totaling over $14.6 billion. These powerful drugs can really help patients, but the help comes at a cost of significant weight gain and increased diabetes risk."
So now you see how CORT's Corlux can be used to mitigate this weight gain, what would the big pharmas say when the result on Dec is positive? "Hmmmm very attractive item this small 300M or so company has. Darn it, I spent over 1 Billion to settle the lawsuits on side-effects of my antipsychotics drug."
Well, many analysts said, "usage for 'subclinical' Cushing’s syndrome, expected peak revenues range from $50 million to $150 million." So what will happen to its 300M market cap?
You guess.
ps) I know, my writing on CORT is horrible, its rather commentary. But I had to write to inform yall.
Useful web documents:
Orphan Drug: http://biotech.about.com/od/faq/f/orphandrugs.htm
Piper Jaffray target CORT at $7/share: http://www.benzinga.com/analyst-ratings/analyst-color/10/11/619004/piper-jaffray-initiates-coverage-on-corcept-theraputics
Dr. Kimberly Lee on CORT: http://www.twst.com/yagoo/KMBERLYlee1q.html
