Tag - Mbrx

Metabasis Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: MBRX) announced this morning that it its Phase 1b multiple-dose clinical trial of MB07811, its product candidate for the treatment of hyperlipidemia, indicates that it is safe and well tolerated at the doses studied.

Based on its preliminary findings, the biopharmaceutical company said it plans to explore the safety and tolerability of higher doses. In addition, Metabasis said that preliminary results from the trial suggest MB07811 reduced fasting LDL cholesterol levels ("bad" cholesterol), as well as fasting triglyceride (TG) levels.

MB07811 is a thyroid hormone receptor agonist designed specifically to target the liver and to try to reduce LDL-cholesterol and TG levels.

Shares of Metabasis Therapeutics (MBRX) lost 6.77%, or $0.18, to $2.48 out of the gate. Shares of Metabasis Therapeutics have been trading in the range of $2.35 to $8.64 for the past 52 weeks.

Hearst Communications sold 243,128 of paid-search provider Local.com Corp. (Nasdaq: LOCM) at $9.07, according to Briefing.com.

Home improvement products maker Q.E.P. Co., Inc. (Nasdaq: QEPC) reported first-quarter sales of $57 million, above estimates of $54 million.

Qiao Xing Universal Telephone Inc. (Nasdaq: XING) filed with the SEC a form to release its annual report and restate its financial data from fiscal years 2003, 2004 and 2005.

The following are the most actively traded companies in Tuesday pre-market trading among those with market capitalizations under $500 million:

CoolcatReport.com publisher Kevin Kennedy uses a proprietary trading and screening system, based in large part on momentum. For example, the stocks that make his buy list must be trading above their closes of 3, 6 and 12 months ago. In addition, they must have made new 52-week highs in the past two months.

Generally, Kennedy prefers stocks that have made new highs, have pulled back in a consolidation pattern, and are then poised to again move to new highs.

This basic strategy is applied to a wide range of stock ideas through his multiple Coolcat newsletter services. Small caps are featured in his Coolcat Explosive Small Cap Growth Stock Report.

“This batch of stocks is hanging out just above its 50-day moving average, offering some interesting entries with decent risks,” Kennedy says. “All have put earnings season to bed and appear well-positioned to move up from here.”

Passing Kennedy’s screening process is a trio of biotech stocks. Metabasis Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: MBRX), says Kennedy, has a “promising pipeline” of preclinical and clinical product candidates targeting metabolic diseases such as diabetes, hyperlipidemia and obesity.

He notes that first-quarter revenues jumped 252% to $3.4 million, which included a $1.8-million upfront license fee received from Schering-Plough Corp. (NYSE: SGP) and license fee and sponsored research revenue from its hepatitis C collaboration with Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: IDIX).

The company – with a market cap of $243 million -- had $71.3 million in cash, cash equivalents and securities at the end of March, Kennedy notes.

Meanwhile, BioImaging Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: BITI), with a market cap of $78 million, offers services to support the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device industries in product development.