Why Is Ensysce Biosciences (ENSC) Stock Up 50% Today?

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  • Shares of Ensysce Biosciences (ENSC) skyrocketed on Tuesday following a possible breakthrough.
  • The clinical-stage biotech completed an overdose protection study for its opioid pain medication.
  • ENSC stock soared on the positive implications to address a critical addiction crisis.
ENSC stock - Why Is Ensysce Biosciences (ENSC) Stock Up 50% Today?

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Clinical-stage biotechnology firm Ensysce Biosciences (NASDAQ:ENSC) skyrocketed sharply on Tuesday, with shares at one point gaining 50% before settling to around 26% up. Management announced the completion of its opioid-based pain medication integrated with a novel overdose protection mechanism. Inherently, the profoundly positive implications for the national opioid addiction crisis catalyzed ENSC stock.

Early this morning, Ensysce issued a press release regarding a clinical study of its first pain medication with overdose protection, PF614-MPAR. Subsequently, the final component of the study revealed that PF614-MPAR “successfully reduced opioid delivery when three or more doses are consumed simultaneously.”

Critically, Ensysce believes that PF614-MPAR is the first drug that can limit exposure to opioids if a patient consumes an excess number of pills, thus protecting against overdose. While consumption of one or two capsules yields no unusual effects, when a patient administers three or more capsules simultaneously, “the amount of opioid released and absorbed into the circulation diminished as compared to the unprotected PF614, thereby substantially reducing the risk of overdose.”

ENSC Stock Aligns With a Major Crisis in America

As Ensysce’s press release stated, opioids command significant relevancies for the treatment of severe pain. Notably, doctors prescribe opioids for patients fighting cancer and for post-operative pain. While highly effective, they unfortunately impose a significant risk of abuse, addiction and overdose. Therefore, Ensysce’s potential ability to offer the good and not the bad boosted ENSC stock.

“This first-in-human demonstration of MPAR’s unique ability to reduce the adverse consequences of excessive opioid consumption is a major step towards Ensysce’s goal of making safer prescription drugs,” remarked Dr. William Schmidt, Ensysce’s chief medical officer.

Schmidt went onto state that if PF614-MPAR receives approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it could represent a true gamechanger for the treatment of severe pain.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “[o]verall, drug overdose deaths rose from 2019 to 2021 with more than 106,000 drug overdose deaths reported in 2021. Deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone (primarily fentanyl) continued to rise with 70,601 overdose deaths reported in 2021.”

Why It Matters

According to TipRanks, one analyst currently covers ENSC stock, Lake Street’s Thomas Flaten, who pegs shares as a “buy.” The expert’s price target lands at $15, implying about 246% upside potential.

On the date of publication, Josh Enomoto 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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