Warning: I have nothing encouraging or positive to say in this latest installment of my small-cap biotech column featuring ResTORbio (TORC) — damn, that’s a stupid spelling — Trovagene (TROV), and Atossa Genetics (ATOS). I start in skeptical, glass-half-empty mode before going full-tilt “GET OFF MY LAWN!” You like that best, right?
ResTORbio said last week that the FDA agreed to its proposed design for Phase 3 clinical trials that use a less stringent primary endpoint than the one used by the company in its Phase 2 clinical trial. A less demanding primary endpoint means greater odds of clinical trial success, which in turn, means a higher likelihood that ResTORbio’s drug is approved. Or, so ResTORbio bulls will tell you.
The company wasn’t bold enough to make that prediction last week, but one of its most supportive sell-side analysts, Leerink’s Geoff Porges, did. Porges raised his probability of clinical trial success to 50 percent from 35 percent, even while slightly lowering his price target on ResTORbio shares.
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