Shares of a company making a 'female Viagra'-like drug are skyrocketing
(flickr via me and the sysop)
The FDA backed a so-called female Viagra drug on Thursday, and now the stock of a company that is making a similar drug is surging.
Palatin Technologies jumped more than 46% in early trading on Friday.
The FDA's advisory committee voted 18-6 in favor of flibanserin, a drug designed to boost sex drive in women who suffer from a lack of sexual desire. Business Insider's Erin Brodwin has the full details of what the drug is designed to do.
Palatin has a market cap of $55 million, and its shares climbed to as high as $1.58 in trading on Friday morning.
Flibanserin is being developed by Sprout Pharmaceuticals, a private company. But the FDA vote could still be huge for Palatin, which is developing a different drug to treat female sexual dysfunction, bremelanotide, according to Reuters.
In a note, Canaccord Genuity analysts raised their price target for Palatin to $6 from $4 and maintained their "buy" rating.
They wrote:
We believe this has significant read through for PTN, since this will possibly be the first drug to be approved for female sexual dysfunction given the twice rejection from the FDA on Flibanserin previously, lifting the regulatory risk for this class of drugs.
Shares of Palatin are up 83% year-to-date and up 22% over the past 12 months.
Here's a chart showing the pop in shares on Friday:
(Google Finance)
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