When a $6M Company Signs a Potentially $50M Deal…

Opexa (OPXA) shares quadrupled on news of a deal that could be worth almost ten times its market cap from yesterday.

Announced before the bell this morning, Novartis (NVS) will purchase Opexa Therapeutics’ stem cell technology, sending shares of the latter flying by more than 400%. Under the terms of the deal, Novartis will pay Opexa $3 million up front, and another $1 million over six months. Then, upon the successful development and marketing of the technology, Opexa stands to collect commercial milestone payments that could reportedly exceed $50 million. Keep in mind the micro-cap company was valued at less than $6 million yesterday. In addition, Opexa stands to profit from the sale of any product resulting from the use of the technology via royalty payments. Opexa president and CEO Neil K. Warma said, “This agreement will also allow us to firmly focus our attention on our key clinical asset, Tovaxin,” an anti-T-cell therapeutic vaccine for use in cancer treatment.

As a whole, the Stem Cell Stocks Index is ahead by 15% today. It is now beating the S&P 500 by 1.5% over the last month, largely in thanks to Opexa’s massive rally.

After the market closed yesterday, ThermoGenesis (NADSAQ: KOOL) announced the introduction of its new bone marrow processing device, the Res-Q System. Though its thunder was stolen by Opexa’s news, ThermoGenesis shares are adding 3%. Chief executive Melville Engle commented in a press release, “We believe our Res-Q System has considerable advantages over competing products and should help surgeons realize the true value of autologous cellular therapy.”

Osiris Therapeutics (OSIR) reported second-quarter net loss of -$9.7 million yesterday before the bell. The loss per share was -30 cents, an improvement over the same period last year when the company lost -48 cents a share. Osiris CEO Randal Mills, Ph.D., was optimistic in the press release, “We are pleased with the progress we have made over the past year solidifying our balance sheet,” which included $120.8 million of cash as of June 30.

Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM) and Geron (GERN) are enjoying a sympathy rally on no company-specific news. The stocks are up by 4% and 2% today.

StemCells (STEM) and Pluristem Therapeutics (PSTI) are also ahead on the day. Meanwhile Cytori Therapeutics (CYTX) has broken fractionally into positive territory, still lagging its peers.

As of this writing, the Stem Cell Stocks Index is one of the top-15 performing tickerspy Indexes this week, up by 12%.

Investors can follow the Stem Cell Stocks Index and view related performance charts and metrics at tickerspy.com.

Tags: ASTM, CYTX, GERN, KOOL, NVS, OPXA, OSIR, STEM