- Catalyst Biosciences (NASDAQ:CBIO) stock is jumping on the sale of its protease medicines portfolio.
- Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) is buying it for $60 million.
- This is part of Catalyst Biosciences’ exploration of strategic alternatives.
Catalyst Biosciences (NASDAQ:CBIO) stock is rocketing higher on Monday after announcing the sale of its protease medicines portfolio.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) is the buyer of this portfolio with it promising to pay $60 million in cash for it. That includes CB 2782-PEG, which is a C3-degrader for the treatment of dry AMD.
It’s worth pointing out that Catalyst Biosciences only recently regained the rights to CB 2782-PEG. This saw Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) returning those rights late in March and ending its collaboration on other potential AMD treatments.
Nassim Usman, Ph.D., CEO of Catalyst Biosciences, said the following about today’s deal.
“We have been exploring strategic alternatives to monetize our assets and maximize value for our shareholders. This sale is part of the ongoing strategic process that we announced in February to explore alternatives and create value for shareholders. We have significantly reduced our cash burn and continue to work with our advisors to evaluate additional strategic alternatives for Catalyst.”
It’s also worth mentioning that CBIO stock is seeing heavy trading on today’s sale news. This has some 82 million shares on the move as of Monday morning. For the record, its daily average trading volume is only around 274,000 shares.
CBIO stock is up 171% as of Monday morning.
Investors on the lookout for more recent stock market news are in the right place!
We’ve got all the hottest stock news that traders need to know about for Monday! Among that is what has shares of GeoVax (NASDAQ:GOVX) and Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) stock on the move, as well as other market news. You can read up on that at the following links!
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On the date of publication, William White did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
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