What happened
Shares of Disc Medicine Opco (IRON -2.33%) were up 18.4% for the week as of Thursday and were up as much as 21.8% this week, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The healthcare company closed last week at $32.53, then rose to its 52-week high of $39.63 on Thursday. The stock is up more than 93% so far this year.
So what
Disc Medicine Opco is a clinical-stage biotech company that specializes in treating blood disorders. The company's lead therapy, bitopertin, is in two ongoing phase 2 studies to treat erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP), a rare inherited metabolic disorder affecting red blood cells. Disc said it expects to give preliminary results of the trials this month at different conferences. The company is developing bitopertin to treat a range of hematologic disorders.
The company also has DISC-0974 in a phase 1b/2 trial to treat anemia related to chronic kidney disease and plans to begin a phase 1 trial soon for MWTX-003 to treat polycythemia vera, a slow-developing blood cancer.
One reason the stock rose is it received a continued buy ratings this week from Stifel Nicolaus analyst Benjamin Burnett and BMO analyst Evan Seigerman, with both analysts pointing to a $40 price target for the stock.
Now what
The company doesn't have any products or revenue. In the first quarter, it said it had $236.4 million in cash, enough to fund operations into 2025. The company posted a loss of $22.8 million in the quarter, mostly because of increased expenses for its clinical trials.
The company has a long way to go to get bitopertin or any of the other therapies in its pipeline to market, so there's plenty of risk for investors. The company could be a good long-term bet, but so much depends on how bitopertin does in its current phase 2 trial to treat EPP, with its top-line data due by the end of the year.