Coronado Biosciences (CNDO) Leaps on Potential Autism Drug

Shares in Coronado Biosciences (CNDO) were on the rise Friday, gaping up some 37 percent on Friday before gains retreated to just under 25 percent by early afternoon. Driving the gain is the reporting of positive interim data from a treatment of the company’s autism treatment trichuris suis ova (TSO). It's the same oral treatment, involving the eggs of a parasite found in pig feces, that sent the company plummeting in October when it failed to show any effect in treating patients with Crohn's disease.

Potential Autism Drug Could be Major Development for CNDO

Study Investigator Dr. Eric Hollander, M.D., Director of the Autism and Obsessive Compulsive Spectrum Program at the Montefiore Medical Center, reported the results from the 10-patient, double-blind study at the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Annual Meeting in Hollywood, FL. The study enrolled 10 high-functioning adult autism spectrum disorder patients and the results showed statistically significant differences between the five placebo patients and those taking oral TSO, also known as CNDO-201, in three measures of the disease: the Montefiore-Einstein Rigidity Scale (MERS), the Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised (RBS-R) Sameness Scale, and the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS)-Repetitive Behaviors Scale.

"There is increasing evidence that immune dysregulation plays an important role in this developmental disorder and we are encouraged by the interim data from this pilot study with TSO," said CEO and Chairman Dr. Harlan F. Weisman. "We believe autism is an area of unmet medical need where a natural immune system regulator like TSO may help a part of the autism population."

CNDO Building Back, but Still Hurting From Crohn’s Defeat

Coronado’s huge gain today comes during a major upswing that has the stock up almost 65 percent over the last month. However, this was dwarfed by the 65 percent swing Coronado’s stock experienced in a single day in mid-October after news that its proposed use of TSO as a treatment for Crohn’s disease was no more effective than a placebo.

Since that crash, which took shares from $7.78 a share to under $2 a share in just a week and knocked Coronado’s market cap from $264 million to under $65 million, shares coasted to a 52-week low of $1.25 apiece before starting their current recovery that had shares trading for as much as $2.70 on Friday. The stock had gained some momentum prior to Friday’s gain, up almost 35 percent from November 15 to yesterday, as some investors appeared to see the company as oversold and made a value play.