Small biotech companies have notoriously volatile stocks. Positive results from early lab work or clinical trials can fuel investors' imaginations. It doesn't hurt that every once in a while a company can seem to discover medicinal gold as it parlays a discovery into a blockbuster drug or multibillion-dollar acquisition. Trillium Therapeutics (TRIL) is proving no different. The stock has seen highs and lows that would give most shareholders whiplash. Shares of Trillium sat at $0.24 last December before rocketing higher to $21 at the end of November. Since then, the stock has fallen 44% from that high. Investors want to know if it could fall below $10 per share.
Image source: Getty Images.
A roller-coaster ride
Trillium's journey started last year with a new CEO and a doubling down on a potential treatment for blood cancers. The focus paid off. Early results from a phase 1 study in January showed the company's two drug candidates, TTI-621 and TTI-622, demonstrated the ability to block the signal that nearly all cancer cells use to cloak themselves from the immune system. That was enough to get Pfizer's (PFE -3.85%) attention. The drug giant invested $25 million into Trillium in September. Investors have plenty of reason to be excited.
Another company developing a drug to block cancer's cloaking defense is Forty Seven, which Gilead Sciences (GILD -2.70%) bought in March for $4.9 billion. Unlike Forty Seven's drug, magrolimab, which works in combination with other treatments, Trillium's drug has shown the ability to work by itself.
Anything can happen
Of course, in investing almost anything could happen. So, yes, Trillium shares could fall below $10. Investors should be asking themselves if it matters. With a string of positive results and a market capitalization less than one-fourth the buyout price of a peer, any significant decline appears to be a buying opportunity for those with patience.
