Pre-market Movers In Healthcare Sector: THTX, ABUS, QLGN CNTG, MRNA…

(RTTNews) - What's moving these stocks in pre-market hours today?

In the Green

1. Theratechnologies Inc. (THTX) is up over 37% at $3.09 in pre-market trading Friday, on new data from a sub-analysis of its phase II study of Tesamorelin on the transcriptome of the liver biopsies in people living with HIV-associated nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Tesamorelin is approved by the FDA and marketed under the brand name Egrifta for the treatment of excess abdominal fat in HIV patients with lipodystrophy. The data support the clinical relevance for the development of Tesamorelin as a potential treatment for liver diseases, according to the company.

2. Miragen Therapeutics (MGEN) is up more than 29% at $1.42 in pre-market trading. Yesterday, the company's investigational drug Cobomarsen was designated an orphan drug by the FDA for the treatment of T-cell lymphoma. Cobomarsen is under a phase I trial in adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma and in a global phase II trial in patients with mycosis fungoides, the most common type of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, dubbed SOLAR. Miragen regained compliance with the applicable NASDAQ minimum bid price continued listing requirement on July 1.

3. Arbutus Biopharma Corporation (ABUS) is up over 20% at $7.50 in pre-market trading, adding to yesterday's surge of over 100%. The shares are rallying on the back of a favorable decision from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board related to '069 patent covering Arbutus' lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology, which was challenged by Moderna. The coronavirus vaccine candidate mRNA-1653, being developed by Moderna, is based on the LNP technology.

4. AIkido Pharma Inc. (AIKI) is up over 8% at $1.32 in pre-market trading, adding to yesterday's gain of over 14% on no news. The last what we heard from the company was on July 9, 2020, when it announced key progress in computational approaches to identify virus treatments, including the novel coronavirus.

5. Centogene N.V. (CNTG) is up over 9% at $13.31 in pre-market trading Friday, rallying for the second straight day. Yesterday, the company announced that its validated COVID-19 test kit, called CentoKit-19, is now available in Germany on Amazon.de. Centogene is the first provider worldwide to make its innovative and comprehensive testing solution for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus RNA available to all individuals in Germany via the online marketplace.

6. Qualigen Therapeutics Inc. (QLGN) is up over 8% at $5.40 in pre-market trading today. An exclusive worldwide license agreement with the University of Louisville (UofL) for the intellectual property covering the "RAS-F" family of RAS oncogene protein-protein interaction inhibitor small molecule drug candidates was signed by the company yesterday. Qualigen will evaluate these patent-pending compounds in order to identify a lead drug candidate for further development against one or more cancers.

7. BioNTech SE (BNTX) is up more than 3% at $92 in pre-market trading. The company and its partner Pfizer executed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for up to 600 million of BNT162, the COVID-19 vaccine candidate jointly developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. A phase IIb/III safety and efficacy trial of BNT162 is expected to begin later this month, with regulatory review expected as early as October 2020. As per the agreement, the U.S. government will pay the companies $1.95 billion upon the receipt of the first 100 million doses, following FDA authorization or approval. The U.S. government also can acquire up to an additional 500 million dose.

In the Red

1. Heat Biologics Inc. (HTBX) is down more than 5% at $2.60 in pre-market trading on no news. Last month, the Company had said that it remains on track to complete the design and development of its COVID-19 vaccine in July, and initiate manufacturing in early August. The Company is collaborating with Waisman Biomanufacturing to manufacture its COVID-19 vaccine.

2. Milestone Pharmaceuticals Inc. (MIST) is down over 4% at $8.47 in pre-market trading today, giving back some of what it gained yesterday. The shares were up over 160% yesterday, following an update related to Etripamil nasal spray, the company's investigational novel short-acting calcium channel blocker for patients with paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia. The company had also announced that it has entered into a securities purchase agreement with existing shareholder RTW Investments, LP for a $25 million private placement.

3. Moderna Inc. (MRNA), which lost over 9% in yesterday's trade, is down over 3% in pre-market trading today after losing a patent challenge against Arbutus related to lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology. The coronoavirus vaccine candidate mRNA-1653, being developed by Moderna, is based on the LNP technology.