CRXX: CombinatoRx

Business Wire reported that according to the Journal of the American Society of Hematology article entitled, "Adenosine A2A receptor agonists and PDE inhibitors: a synergistic multi-target mechanism discovered through systematic combination screening in B-cell malignancies," Rickles, et.al., Blood First Edition Paper, prepublished online April 9, 2010; DOI 10.1182/blood-2009-11-252668, CombinatoRx (CRXX) researchers in collaboration with Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, demonstrated that the exposure of the large B-cell lymphoma cell lines to A2A agonists and specific PDE inhibitors resulted in rapid synergistic inhibition of proliferation and induction of apoptosis. Which I loosely interpret to mean cell death in cancer cells (induction of apoptosis) and stopping the spread of cancer cells (inhibition of proliferation). 

Currently, CRXX is above both its 50 day and 200 day moving averages of $1.27 and $1.19 respectively and opened with a gap on April 14, 2010 at $1.48 after a previous day close of $1.33. Does this mean that CRXX is going to experience some earth shaking success in the near future?

Below is some information on three of the products in the CRXX pipeline that I obtained from their website and news releases:

Exalgo ™: the FDA approved the New Drug Application (NDA) for Exalgo ™ extended release tablets on March 1, 2010 which triggered a $40 million milestone payment to CombinatoRx from Covidien and a 44% increase in the share price of CRXX before the opening bell. Covidien acquired the commercial rights to Exalgo ™ in June 2009 and has responsibility for all marketing and sales of the product in the United States. CRXX is eligible to receive tiered royalties on net sales of Exalgo ™.

Prednisporin™ is a topical ocular drug for the treatment of flammatory ocular diseases such as conjunctivitis which CominatoRx has exclusively licensed to Fovea Pharmaceuticals. In 2009, Fovea conducted a Phase 2a proof-of-concept clinical trial in the United States in approximately 150 patients and reported no adverse events.

CRx-102 (Synavive™) is intended to selectively amplify the potent immuno-modulatory activity of steroids, with reduced side effects, also known as a dissociated steroid. The market potential consists of an estimated 33 million osteoarthritis patients and 2 million rheumatoid arthritis patients in the United States. CRXX has completed a phase 2 study in knee osteoarthis with no serious adverse events reported from patients. The phase 2 hand study demonstrated statistically significant improvement in pain compared to the placebo.

After I considered the above information, the initiated coverage of CRXX by Liberty Analytics Co., the company’s YTD Price Performance of +60.2%, the $0.15 gap up this morning at $1.48 and a 52 week high of $2.60 on September 16, 2009, I wonder if their potential for earth shaking success could be a tsunami in the making. I’ve decided to hang on to my shares and ride out the wave.

Remember that since CRXX is a penny stock, it is a risky investment and the price of the stock is subject to rapid fire up/down fluctuations. It is important to do your own Due Diligence before investing your money in this or any other stock and do not base your buy/sell decisions on the opinions and comments of LA Stock Talk.

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