Allergan Ligand Retinoid Therapeutics, Inc (ALRI) has gained notoriety yesterday due to the HALT of one of its pivotol Phase III trials of topical Panretin, its lead retinoid, for the treatment of Kaposi's Sarcoma. The company is a funding vehicle (has one employee and began with a $100 million bank account) for retinoid research of Allergan (AGN) and Ligand (LGND) who have 50/50 ownership. The shares are callable for $21.97 and ALRI's accellerated spending program should force a call in the next few months.
However, yesterday investors couldn't be contained. After the press release the night before (Aug 26), coupled with several graphics on CNBC, the stock opened at 23 1/2, up 5 3/8, even though it could be called for $21.97. The price quickly came down, but volume continued unabated. Final volume of 469,000 which challenged IBD's NASDAQ Stocks With Greatest % Rise In Volume posting abilities. ALRI was #1 with a % volume change of 9999!
I'll post more info on the relationship between ALRI, AGN, and LGND. However, there is already a good deal of info on the Ligand Breakout! thread. |
