What happened
Shares of AlloVir (ALVR -0.36%) were down 39.8% for the week as of early Friday afternoon, after being down as much as 42.8%, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The clinical-stage biotech's stock is down more than 36% so far this year.
So what
On Wednesday, the company said it was undertaking a public offering of shares worth $75 million to raise money. AlloVir is selling 20 million shares at $3.75 a share. Such sales are dilutive for current investors and often lead to lower prices for stocks.
The move came two weeks after AlloVir's stock rose on positive final data from a phase 2 trial of its lead therapy. As of the first quarter, it said it had only $202.6 million in cash, enough to fund operations into 2024 based on its burn rate, so the desire to raise more cash isn't a surprise.
Now what
The downward move presents a good opportunity to get in on the stock at a lowered price point. Even though it doesn't have any commercial products yet, its lead therapy, posoleucel, fared well in a phase 2 trial to treat adult kidney transplant patients who had BK virus infections (BKV). The company has already begun enrolling patients in a phase 3 trial to treat BKV.
There are no effective treatments for BKV, and roughly 22,000 kidney transplant patients get the disease each year. The therapy is also being looked at to treat other viruses that can plague transplant patients, such as Epstein-Barr, adenovirus, cytomegalovirus, and human herpesvirus-6.
