Pharmacy Industry News: Catalyst Pharmaceutical Partners (CPRX) Soars & Fades…. Again. Here’s a Closer Look.

Catalyst Pharmaceutical Partners (CPRX) Soars & Fades…. Again. Here’s a Closer Look.

The good news is, Catalyst Pharmaceutical Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRX) is up 1.8% today. The bad news is, the current price of $1.12 per share is well under today’s high of $1.39, underscoring a nagging problem that’s been plaguing CPRX since 2009… it just can’t hold onto its gains. Were the news fro the company meaningless, or even bad, the stock’s inability to get anywhere would be understandable. The news has been good though, and got even better today. Still, nothing.

Catalyst Pharmaceutical Partners develops drugs to fight addictions, manage pain, and treat diseases of the central nervous system. There are two in the pipelines, covering eight different ailments. CPP-109 is being developed as a therapy to fight cocaine dependency, addictions to methamphetamines, and a cocaine/alcohol combination addiction. The drug’s in Phase I and Phase II testing right now. CPP-109 is also in preclinical development as a therapy for opiate addiction, primarily for pain management patients.

The drug addiction market isn’t often targeted – at least not with a great deal of pomp – by major pharma names. CPRX isn’t barking up a fruitless tree though. The drug addiction market in the U.S. alone is worth approximately $3 billion per year, most of which is spent on pharmaceuticals. Yet, there still aren’t enough effective treatments, which is largely why it’s been given a Fast Track status by the FDA.

The other in-development drug Catalyst Pharmaceutical Partners is working on is CPP-115. It’s being developed as a therapy for cocaine and opiate addiction, epilepsy, and other nervous system indications. The foundational molecule is the same as CPP-109, but it’s been tweaked to better fight other ailments. The FDA is also as hungry for CPP-109 as it was for CPP-115, granting it a Fast Track status as well, per this morning’s announcement.

By all accounts, CPRX should be soaring. The fact that it’s not is a clue that the market may be seeing or thinking more than the news alone is indicating. On that note…

The ‘word in the street’ is that Pfizer is interested in co-developing CPP-115. It’s strictly a rumor, and in no way has been confirmed – though not denied – by Catalyst Pharmaceutical Partners, and could be something cooked up entirely by those with a vested interest in seeing shares move upward. That rumor is underscored by a similar one that GlaxoSmithKline is also interested in the company for its patent portfolio. Again though, neither Glaxo nor CPRX have indicated such a deal was on the table, and it should be regarded as only a rumor at this point. The fact that the stock plunged right after the trading halt was cancelled forces one to think there’s not much substance to the acquisition speculation.

China Nuokang Bio-Pharmaceutical Inc. Appoints David Gao to Board of Directors

China Nuokang Bio-Pharmaceutical Inc. NKBP
+4.58%
(“Nuokang” or the “Company”), a leading China-based biopharmaceutical company focused on the research, development, manufacture, marketing and sales of hospital-based medical products, today announced that Mr. David Xiaoying Gao was appointed to the Company’s board of directors (“the Board”) and as a member of the audit committee and corporate governance & nominating committee, effective on December 19, 2011. Mr. Gao will be replacing Mr. William Keller, who is leaving the Board for personal reasons.

Mr. Gao served as the chief executive officer and a director of BMP Sunstone from February 2004 until its acquisition by Sanofi-aventis in February 2011. Following the acquisition, he transitioned to become a senior integration advisor for Sanofi-aventis from February 2011 to August 2011. Previously, Mr. Gao served as chairman of the board of directors and CEO of Abacus Investments Ltd, a private wealth management company, and also held various executive positions at Motorola, Inc. including vice-president and director of the integrated electronic system sector, Asia-Pacific operations; and served as a member of the management board of Motorola Asia Pacific, Motorola Japan Ltd. and Motorola China.

Mr. Gao holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the Beijing Institute of Technology, a M.S. in mechanical engineering from Hanover University in Germany and an M.B.A. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mr. Gao also currently serves as an independent director for China Biologic Products Inc CBPO
-3.45% .

Mr. Baizhong Xue, the Company’s chairman and chief executive officer, stated, “We would like to begin by thanking William for his contributions over the past few years. We wish him the best moving forward. We are also excited to welcome David to our board. We believe his experience in building BMP Sunstone into a China-based pharmaceutical company with over a hundred million dollars in annual sales will contribute to Nuokang’s future growth prospects. Furthermore, we believe his diverse expertise in the various stages of a corporation’s development garnered from completing and integrating a multinational acquisition and serving as an independent director of a fellow U.S.-listed, China-based peer is invaluable.”