Top 3 Biotech Stocks That Got Retail Street Buzzing Last Week: SMMT, PTN, RXRX

Summit Therapeutics Inc. (SMMT) - 1100% jump in weekly message volume

The biopharma company saw a sharp rise in retail chatter on Stocktwits last week, driven by growing analyst optimism around its cancer drug candidate, ivonescimab — a PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody. 

Truist, which has a 'Buy' rating and a $35 price target on the stock, called the upcoming survival data from the HARMONi-2 trial of ivonescimab in non-small cell lung cancer one of the year's most anticipated biotech readouts.

According to The Fly, Truist said its in-house biostatistics expert believes the study could exceed expectations and demonstrate statistical significance. 

In a note from late March, Citi said it had developed a "strong conviction" that HARMONi-2 has a 70% chance of delivering a favorable overall survival outcome by the expected year-end update.

Meanwhile, Cantor Fitzgerald highlighted co-CEO and chairman Bob Duggan's early exercise of 4 million stock options at $1.58 — roughly four years before expiration — as "quite unusual" and "quite bullish."

Retail sentiment for Summit on Stocktwits flipped to 'extremely bullish' from 'neutral' last week, and the stock's year-to-date gains have reached nearly 30%.

Palatin Technologies Inc. (PTN) - 600% jump in weekly message volume

Cranbury, New Jersey-based Palatin said Thursday that the NYSE American plans to delist its common stock after the company failed to meet the exchange's minimum stockholders' equity requirement by the April 10 deadline.

Palatin said it will appeal the decision by April 25 and expects its shares to continue trading on NYSE American during the appeal process.

The biopharma company, which develops drugs targeting the melanocortin receptor system, currently runs clinical trials in obesity, dry eye disease, ulcerative colitis, diabetic nephropathy, and other ocular conditions.

On Stocktwits, sentiment for Palatin plunged into 'extremely bearish' territory from 'extremely bullish' last week. The stock has lost over 85% this year.

Recursion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (RXRX) - 500% jump in weekly message volume

Shares of Recursion Pharmaceuticals received a big boost last week after the U.S. health regulator unveiled plans to modernize drug testing methodologies. 

The FDA said it would begin replacing traditional animal testing for monoclonal antibody therapies and other drugs with more "human-relevant" methods, including artificial intelligence (AI) models.

This aligns closely with Nvidia-backed Recursion's business model, which uses AI, machine learning, and automation to accelerate drug discovery. 

On Stocktwits, sentiment for Recursion climbed into the 'extremely bullish' zone from 'bullish' last week, with the stock's year-to-date losses reducing to about 16%.

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