Taysha Gene Therapies (NASDAQ: TSHA) is up 400% month-on-month

Taysha Gene Therapies (NASDAQ:TSHA) stock is up 40% today. TSHA stock is also up 400% month-on-month. The background argument is that the company is fixing itself. A company’s turnaround tends to have an impact on its stock price — though not always quite as miraculously. Taysha broke NASDAQ listing rules, that is now fixed. They also ran out of money, that’s solved now. After all, their top candidate – at least so far – is doing well in the studies. So the question really is, why shouldn’t the stock price go up?

We previously looked at Taysha Gene: “Taysha Gene Therapy (NASDAQ:TSHA) stock is up 200% and is changing. TSHA stock rose on the encouraging results of a trial, but more importantly, a share placement to raise $150 million. This second is obviously dilutive — the market cap was previously under $50 million — but it actually takes away funding worries very well. There is still a runway for the company. Given that the share issue was above market price (90 cents versus about 70 cents), it’s also a significant vote of confidence from investors, led by RA Capital Management. There’s definitely a sense that if they value it above everyone else, then maybe we should all do the same?”

The background to this fundraiser was as follows: “Initial data from the REVEAL lead program’s Phase 1/2 gene therapy study, TSHA-102, in the rare neurodevelopmental disorder Rett Syndrome. Citing the results of REVEAL’s low-dose cohort, Taysha (TSHA) said that the first adult patient to receive TSHA-102 tolerated the investigational therapy well, indicating no treatment-emergent serious adverse events occurred within six weeks . In addition, four weeks post-treatment, the patient demonstrated improvements on key efficacy measures, including the Rett Syndrome Behavioral Questionnaire (RSBQ).” This is early in the testing path. However, we believe this is good news that has resulted in investors willing to subscribe for new shares at a price that was higher than the prevailing market price at the time. As I said, this is a vote of confidence.

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Taysha Gene Therapies stock price from Google Finance
The net effect of both the capital increase and the share price increase is that Taysha now meets the requirements for listing on the NASDAQ. This Rett Syndrome treatment has also been granted Fast Track Designation by the FDA. We tend to think it’s the second theme that’s giving the recent boost. NASDAQ compliance was obvious, but the FDA’s decision was not.