Avrobio's gene therapy drug proved successful in clinical trials
The shares of Avrobio Inc (NASDAQ:AVRO) are popping today after the drugmaker announced positive data from its clinical trials of its investigational gene therapy drug AVR-RD-01 in patients with Fabry Disease, as well as an 87% substrate reduction in its first post-treatment kidney biopsy. AVRO is up 7.1% at $15.29 in response.
Since spiking at $28.52 in early April, AVRO has suffered a gradual descent on the charts. While the $13 region has caught the stock on multiple occasions, pressure at its 50-day and 40-day moving averages just stifled its most recent rally attempt. Now, Avrobio is trading back north of its 40-day trendline, and is threatening to conquer its 50-day, too.
Despite it's recent behavior, analysts have been incredibly optimistic on the security, with eight in coverage giving it a "buy" or better rating, and only one saying "hold." What's more, the consensus 12-month target price of $36.50 is at a 59.2% premium to last Friday's close, and represents an area AVRO hasn't reached in nearly two years.
Shorts have started to rapidly unwind, too, down over 30% in the last two reporting periods to 670,705 shares -- the lowest volume since last February. These bearish bets cover only 2.9% of the stock's available float. However, it would take nearly a week to cover these pessimistic positions at AVRO's average pace of trading, which could mean there's potential for a short squeeze.