Cellceutix Corp (OTCMKTS:CTIX) is a company that has managed to stay in business based on the products it has in the pipeline. Currently, the company has three drugs under study. Its lead candidate is Kevetrin, a cancer drug developed by the company CSO, Dr. Krishna Menon. The drug is currently being studied at Harvard Medical School. Kevetrin regulates the p53 pathway, something that many big pharmaceuticals have been trying to target.
For around 2-years the company has been trying to get itself listed on NASDAQ/NYSE, but has been unable to fulfill the requirements of independent directors. The two other drugs in the CTIX pipeline include Prurisol and Brilacidin. Both drugs are currently in the phase 2 of clinical trials, compared to Kevetrin, which is in phase 1. The company has been concentrating most of its resources towards Brilacidin, while Kevetrin undergoes clinical trials.
Brilacidin is proclaimed to be a new class of antibiotics, which make use of host defense proteins. However, the company has a competitor drug in this class, Daptomycin. CTIX plans to use the drug for bacterial skin and skin structure infections. It has already achieved the designation of “Qualified Infectious Disease Product”. Additionally, phase 2b of clinical trials had indicated that a single dose of Brilacidin would have the same effect as a week’s dose of daptomycin.
Daptomycin has been in the market since last year and has already made $1 billion in sales. The drug would be hard to replace, but Brilacidin does have the potential to cut out a share of those sales. Unfortunately, CTIX would have to wait until 2016 to market the product, since Daptomycin has patent valid till 2016. Another problem that CTIX needs to deal with is the circulating news about Dr. Menon’s credentials. Some news sites have stated that the details on the CSO’s resume are flawed, which could create problems for the company’s stock.
Cellceutix Corp (OTCMKTS:CTIX) closed at $2.53, after losing 3.80% on May 19. The company has 117.72 million shares being traded in the market, with a 52-week range of $1.60-$4.93.
