Today's Top 5 Gainers In Healthcare Sector (ISEE, ZEAL, CUR…)

(RTTNews) - The following are some of today's top gainers in the healthcare sector.

1. IVERIC bio Inc. (ISEE)

IVERIC bio is a biopharmaceutical company developing novel treatment options for retinal diseases with significant unmet medical needs.

Gained 65.58% to close Wednesday's (Oct.30) trading at $3.56. This is the second straight day of double-digit gain for the stock.

News: No news

Clinical Trials & Near-term Catalysts:

-- A phase I/II clinical trial for IC-100 for Rhodopsin-Mediated Autosomal Dominant Retinitis Pigmentosa (RHO-adRP) is expected to be initiated in the second half of 2020. -- A phase I/II clinical trial for IC-200 for the treatment of BEST1-related IRDs, including Best vitelliform macular dystrophy, also known as Best disease, is expected to be initiated in the first half of 2021. -- On October 28, 2019, the Company announced that the phase IIb trial of its investigational complement factor C5 inhibitor Zimura met the primary endpoint in geographic atrophy secondary to Dry Age-Related Macular Degeneration. -- Initial top-line data from a phase IIb clinical trial of Zimura for the treatment of autosomal recessive Stargardt disease is expected to be available in the second half of 2020.

2. Seneca Biopharma Inc. (CUR)

Seneca Biopharma, formerly known as Neuralstem Inc., is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel treatments for nervous system diseases of high unmet medical need. The shares are expected to begin trading on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the revised symbol SNCA on November 1, 2019.

Gained 39.69% to close Wednesday's trading at $1.83.

News: Seneca Biopharma and Jiangsu QYuns Therapeutics Co., Ltd., a China-based company focused on monoclonal antibody therapeutics, have entered into a non-binding term sheet for the licensing of certain assets owned by QYuns.

Seneca and QYuns will team up to develop and commercialize certain of QYuns' assets, including QX005N, QX002N, QX004N, and QX006N. Seneca will also gain access to future antibody assets developed by QYuns.

Upon entering into the license, Seneca's lead asset will be SNC005 (QX005N) for the treatment of Asthma and Atopic Dermatitis. As consideration for the license, Seneca will issue QYuns a yet to be determined amount of common stock.

Clinical Trial & Near-term Catalyst:

-- A phase II clinical trial of NSI-566 for the treatment of chronic ischemic stroke is underway, with results expected in the second half of 2020.

3. Emmaus Life Sciences, Inc. (EMMA.OB)

Emmaus Life Sciences, formerly known as MYnd Analytics Inc., is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company.

Gained 25.53% to close Wednesday's trading at $2.94.

News: Seoul, South Korea-based Vivozon Inc. has executed a stock purchase agreement for the purchase of 800,000 shares of Emmaus common stock at $3.00 per share for a total equity investment of $2.4 million.

The closing of the equity investment is expected to occur on or about October 31, 2019, subject to Korean regulatory approval.

Recent event:

-- On October 11, 2019, the Company reported preliminary gross sales results of $7.0 million for the third quarter ended September 30, 2019, compared to $6.2 million for the second quarter ended June 30, 2019. Filing of the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q is expected on or before November 14, 2019.

The Company has one marketed drug Endari, indicated to reduce the acute complications of sickle cell disease in adult and pediatric patients five years of age and older, which was approved by the FDA in July 2017.

4. STRATA Skin Sciences Inc. (SSKN)

STRATA Skin Sciences is a medical technology company developing products for the treatment of dermatologic conditions.

Gained 17.83% to close Wednesday's trading at $2.71.

News: A Nasdaq Hearings Panel has extended the stay of suspension of trading in STRATA Skin's securities.

The Company will continue to trade pending a hearing on November 21, 2019, following which the Nasdaq Hearings Panel will make a decision about the Company's listing based on its full and complete record at that time.

To be in full compliance with the Nasdaq listing requirements, the Company must be current with its Annual and Quarterly Reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q, respectively, with the SEC.

As part of gaining compliance with the listing requirements, STRATA Skin filed its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, on October 29, 2019. Additionally, it projects to file its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the first quarter of fiscal 2019 during the week of November 4, 2019, and its Form 10-Q for the second quarter of fiscal 2019 during the week of November 11, 2019.

5. Zealand Pharma A/S (ZEAL)

Zealand is a biotechnology company focused on developing peptide-based medicines for gastrointestinal, metabolic and other specialty diseases.

Gained 10.85% to close Wednesday's trading at $30.65.

News: No news

Upcoming event:

The Company is scheduled to report third-quarter financial results on November 14, 2019.

Near-term Catalyst:

The Company looks forward to submitting the New Drug Application for Dasiglucagon HypoPal rescue pen in early 2020.

The Dasiglucagon HypoPal rescue pen is being developed as an easy-to-use, fast and effective rescue treatment for diabetes patients having a severe hypoglycemic event.