Zalicus Inc. (ZLCS) gains from ratings boost

Zalicus Inc. (Nasdaq: ZLCS) shares rose 11.6% to $2.60 after Oppenheimer & Co. initiated coverage of the drug-development firm with an outperform rating. Volume for the stock was 2.1 million shares, outdistancing its all-day average.

An article posted Tuesday on the site benzinga.com reported that Oppenheimer analysts also set a $4.00 price target on the stock.

“Zalicus has one approved drug and a pipeline of promising candidates targeting potentially large commercial opportunities,” the site quotes Oppenheimer as writing. “The leading drugs in the pipeline are Synavive, which is in development for rheumatoid arthritis, and Prednisporin, an agent for allergic conjuctivitis (eye allergies).

“Additionally, Zalicus has two drug discovery platforms—one focused on finding synergies between two pharmaceutical agents and another is aimed at the discovery of new ion channel modulators. Both may produce additional drug candidates for clinical development and/or partnering.”

Zalicus management was not available for comment. Zalicus, based in Cambridge, Mass., is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers and develops novel treatments for patients suffering from pain and immuno-inflammatory diseases.

Tags: biotech, Biotech Stocks, buzz stocks, healthcare, nasdaq, ZLCS

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 5th, 2011 at 12:04 pm by Glenn and is filed under Health Care Stocks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.