(By Rich Bieglmeier) It's been a while since we covered insider buying, been busy previewing earnings announcements for many of iStock reader's favorite stocks.
In the week that was, we identified a couple of strong insider trades worth considering, but we will go with Synergy Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (SGYP).
SGYP Chairman, Gabriel Cerrone bought 39,090 shares of the biotech's stock for a total investment of $234,578.80. As people who have read our past insider story know, iStock likes to look at the performance track-record of the insider(s) making investment decisions. And, Mr. Cerrone's picks and timing would make any investor jealous.
In the past two years, the Chairman has purchased two stocks, SGYP and TrovaGene, Inc. (TROV). His previous purchase of 87,820 shares of Synergy was in November 2012 at $3.61. You see where it trades today up top, stepping in 66% higher speaks volumes, in our opinion. Alot of people would sell with gains like that, how about you?
TROV is the other purchase we see for Cerrone in the past two-years. He bought a small amount of the biotech stock, a little more than $18,000 worth in August 2012. Today, the 18K is worth more than $53,000. Now consider, Gabriel Cerrone committed $551,608.80 to SGYP.
Synergy Pharma is a biopharmaceutical company focused primarily on the development of drugs to treat gastrointestinal, or GI, disorders and diseases. Gastrointestinal (GI) disorders affect the esophagus, stomach, and small and large intestines. The most common are ulcers, acid reflux disease, and irritable bowel syndrome.
GI is a huge market. According to clinicalresearch.com:
- From 9% to 23% of people worldwide have symptoms of IBS
- More than 10% of people worldwide have peptic ulcer in their lifetimes
In the Us:
- 25 million Americans will have an ulcer during their lives
- About 1 in 5 Americans suffer from GERD symptoms weekly
- From 10% to 15% of adults are affected by some form of IBS
Synergy has two compounds in development: PLECANATIDE (SP-304) & SP-333 to treat gastrointestinal disorders & diseases. Synergy's lead investigational drug plecanatide to treat Chronic Idiopathic Constipation is currently in a Phase IIb/III clinical development, designed to meet registration requirements for a pivotal study.
SP-333, also targets GC-C receptors in the GI tract is being developed to treat ulcerative colitis. On January 28th, the company announced, "oral dosing of healthy volunteers has begun in a Phase I clinical trial of SP-333, a guanylate cyclase C (GC-C) agonist for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) including ulcerative colitis (UC)."
Synergy Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (SGYP) could see an uptick of interest from Wall Street next week as management will deliver a corporate overview at two healthcare conferences at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel on February 11th and 13th. iStock anticipates that management will update the street on progress made on the clinical trial front. If the street likes what it hears, Chairman Cerrone may have spent wisely, once again.