GNC Deal Could Be In Jeopardy, Genocea Taming Herpes, Opexa Not Taming MS, Plus The Latest on Theravance

Opexa Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:OPXA) Tanks on Study Failure

Opexa Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:OPXA) is getting slammed by 67.65% today after a phase 2b study for its multiple sclerosis treatment Tcelna failed to meet both its primary and secondary endpoints. The results from the 183-patient, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study found that while Tcelna performed well in terms of safety and tolerability, it failed to reduce brain atrophy or slow the progression of the disease enough to meet the study’s goals. The company will study the data and determine how best to proceed.

Theravance Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ:TBPH) Raises Debt Offering, Falls Further

Theravance Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ:TBPH) is off again today, by 4.93%, a day after shares got clobbered following the company’s announcement of a $100 million offering of shares and a $150 million debt offering. In after-hours trading, the company released the pricing information on the offerings, which included the debt offering of 3.25% Convertible Senior Notes due 2023 being hiked to $200 million. In terms of the public offering of stock, Theravance will issue 3.85 million shares at $26 per share. With shares having more than doubled this year through October 26, the timing was right for a stock offering, though investors don’t appear to be impressed by the larger debt offering. Shares have still gained over 53% this year.

Let’s take a quick look now at how hedge funds have been playing the stocks in this article as of late. Unsurprisingly, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) was the most popular, with 94 hedge funds in our system owning a stake in it on June 30, with their positions valued at nearly $25 billion. Hedge funds were also quite fond of GNC Holdings Inc (NYSE:GNC) and Theravance Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ:TBPH), being overweight each stock. 31 funds held 16.20% of GNC’s shares, while 12 funds owned over 40% of Theravance’s shares. Genocea Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:GNCA) and Opexa Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:OPXA) weren’t nearly as popular, with a net total of 10 hedge funds that we track owning less than $7.5 million worth of the companies’ shares combined.

Disclosure: None