The first day in October not only marks the beginning of a new month, but on that date Provectus Pharmaceuticals (OTC: PVCT) will present data to the European Society Medical Oncology Congress in Vienna from its Phase 2 trial of PV-10 in patients with stage III or IV melanoma. The data will set the stage for testing melanoma patients in Phase III trials where the cancer has spread to other tissue. A controlled trial against standard treatment is expected to begin later this year or in 2013. Dr. Craig Dees, the CEO of Provectus Pharmaceuticals, said he was encouraged about the safety and efficacy of PV-10. Additionally, the drug may hold some promise in the treatment of solid tumors such as those found in breast cancer.
At first traders seemed to slough the news off. The stock opened the trading day unchanged from the previous night’s closing price of $0.63, which also marked the low for today’s session. After the opening yawn, buyers got an injection of enthusiasm. At the end of the first half-hour of trading, shares traded six cents higher. The buying spree continued before lunchtime and the stock traded at an intraday high of $0.71. Perhaps buyers digested their lunch with a walk in the sun as the morning gains slipped away in the afternoon. With minutes left in the trading session, a late rally pushed share prices to a gain of over 5% to close up three cents on the day at a fraction over $0.66. Traders exchanged 461,000 shares today compared to an average volume day when they trade 138,000 shares.
In January, the company received guidelines from the FDA to the pathway of Phase III clinical trials for PV-10. The news helped to jolt the stock to a 52-week high when shares traded for $1.04. Since January, share prices have slowly cascaded like a river running down a mountain. Last Thursday and again on Monday, the stock touched a fresh annual low of $0.60. The new low came coincidentally after the company presented at the Rodman and Renshaw 14th Annual Healthcare Conference. Traders have to wonder if the stock can hold at these levels or if the slight gain today after a promising start to the session was a harbinger of things to come.
Despite the recent activity in the stock, promoters have remained muted on the company for the past year. A full list of promotions for the stock can be viewed on Stockreads.com and Stockpromoters.com. Silence, however, was not the case on Twitter. @thestock411 mentioned the news about the Phase II data, and @pennytrader included Provectus Pharmaceuticals in its midday report.
The Knoxville, Tennessee, company is a biopharmaceutical company specializing in developing cancer and dermatology therapies. Its cancer drug PV-10 focuses on melanoma, breast cancer and liver cancer. The company’s PH-10 is used in dermatology treatments involving psoriasis and atopic dermatitis. The company was founded in 1978.
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