Pharmacyclics Outperformed Other Biotechs In June With A 74% Gain

June was a great month for health stocks – and biotechs in particular – with seven stocks gaining more than 40% over the month. The biggest winner was Pharmacyclics, which rose 74% on the prospects for its ibrutinib treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia. According to Needham analyst Alan Carr, CLL patients had a 81% overall response rate to ibrutinib. He foresees “substantial commercial potential” for the drug. Pharmacyclics, which sports a $3.7 billion market capitalization, has seen its stock price quintuple over the past year.

This screen includes biotechnology stocks that had a market cap of at least $300 million at either the beginning or end of the month, with data via FactSet Systems.

Osiris Therapeutics received approval in Canada to market its stem cell treatment for graft versus host disease; the stock is up 73%. “The drug has had a checkered history,” wrote Bernstein analyst Ronny Gal in a note to clients. “ Sanofi said they discontinued the drug in Feb-12 and the drug had previously failed a phase III study. The conditional Canadian approval in the small patient set is nonetheless a significant milestone in cell therapy.”

Obesity drug makers Orexigen and Arena Pharmaceuticals rose 66% and 49%, respectively. Both were buoyed by the approval of Arena’s lorcaserin, the first new obesity drug in 13 years.

Ventrus, the biotech burnout of the moment whose shares fell 65% because its hemorrhoid treatment failed in a clinical trial, did not make my monthly screen because its market capitalization was already below my $300 million cutoff.  One notable loser this month is Regeneron Pharmaceuticals , whose stock price has doubled over the past 52 weeks on the success of its Eylea drug for macular degeneration, but which gave back 20% in June as news of a new competitor, from a company called Opthotech, showed good data in a clinical trial. Robyn Karnauskus, a sell-side analyst at Deutsche Bank and a Regeneron bull, argues that Opthotech’s drug would be used in combination with medicines like Eylea, and may not represent a threat. On average, biotech stocks in this screen rose 11%; the median stock fell 2.2%.

June’s Best-Performing Biotechs

June’s Worst-Performing Biotechs

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