Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation (TKMR): RA Capital Management Discloses 10% Passive Stake

As mentioned, Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NASDAQ:TKMR) announced on January 12 that they would merge with OnCore Biopharma, a partnership which would create the largest Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) drug company in the world. The merger sent their stock soaring from a close of $15.70 on January 9, to a close of $24.68 on January 12, the next trading day. Tekmira traded as low as $8.86 in July. Through the merger, OnCore will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tekmira.

Shortly after the merger was announced, RBC Capital raised their price target on Tekmira from $25.00 to $35.00, with an ‘Outperform’ rating. Leerink Swann likewise raised the stock to ‘Outperform’, while Maxim Group lifted its price target on the stock  to $27.00 from $21.00 with a ‘Buy’ rating. 

On January 20, Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NASDAQ:TKMR) announced that their TKM-HBV Phase I clinical trial was underway, and that the first subject had been dosed with the treatement. The trial is a randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled study, involving single ascending doses of the TKM-HBV treatment, through intravenous administration. The treatment aims to reduce the level of hepatitis B surface antigen in subjected suffering from chronic HBV.

In addition to HBV treatments, Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NASDAQ:TKMR) is also working on treatments for ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi), as well as on lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery technology that could be used throughout the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NASDAQ:TKMR)’s most recent quarterly results, for the third quarter of 2014, show that the company exceeded analyst expectations with $4.40 million in revenue, up 46.7% from the same year-ago period. Analysts have predicted $-1.61 earnings per share for the company’s 2014 fiscal year.

Other prominent shareholders in Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NASDAQ:TKMR) include Julian Baker and Felix Baker’s Baker Bros. Advisors, also a fund with a biotechnology slant, which owned 481,156 shares in Tekmira as of September 30, 2014. Paul Tudor Jones’ Tudor Investment Corp was another one, with 100,000 shares.

Disclosure: None