In two separate filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Armistice Capital, led by Steven Boyd, disclosed massively cutting its activist stake in Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:SPPI), while upping its passive stake in Antares Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:ATRS). Armistice Capital, which raised its position in Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPPI) in June to 4.42 million shares, has done an about-face, unloading a massive amount of shares of the company, lowering its stake to 991,010 shares. It reported holding just under 4.44 million shares as of June 30. The position now comprises 1.5% of the company’s common stock. In Antares Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:ATRS), the investor raised its stake to 8.06 million shares from 6.40 million shares held by the fund on June 30. The passive stake is equal to 5.2% of the company’s stock.
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Armistice Capital is a value-oriented and event-driven fund that was launched in 2012 by Steven Boyd. During his first year, Mr. Boyd managed to return an impressive 48%. He has gained experience working for a number of investment firms, most recently as an associate at York Capital, as well as previously being a senior research analyst at Senator Investment Group. Mr. Boyd likes to invest money in healthcare and consumer discretionary stocks, and he recently diversified his portfolio to include technology and financial stocks as well.
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Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:SPPI) is a $472.2 million market cap biotechnology company engaged in the development of drug products, with a primary focus in hematology and oncology. The company’s financial results for the second quarter were not overly impressive, with its product sales decreasing by 25% to $35.1 million. The company booked a loss of $2.3 million, or $0.04 per share, versus a loss of $3.6 million, or $0.06 per share, in the same period of last year. Shares of the company have decreased by 2.5% year-to-date. Last month, Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:SPPI) announced that it inked an agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding the Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) of its planned Phase 3 clinical trial of apaziquone, which is the company’s novel, potent pro-drug. The trial will allow the company to further evaluate the intravesical use of apaziquone for the treatment of patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC), as one or two instillations. Among the prominent investors of that company that we track is Kevin Kotler’s Broadfin Capital, which holds 2.65 million shares of Spectrum Pharmaceuticals as of June 30.
With a market cap of $281.7 million, Antares Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:ATRS) is a specialty pharmaceutical company that focuses on self-administered parenteral pharmaceutical products. Antares Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:ATRS) managed to narrow its net loss for the second quarter to $1.5 million, compared to $9.1 million for the same quarter of last year. Its quarterly revenue jumped to $14.4 million, versus $6.3 million last year. At the end of last month, Robert Roche Jr., a Director of Antares Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:ATRS), acquired 5,000 shares of the company at $1.77 per share for an aggregate price of $8,850. Following the acquisition, Roche Jr. owns 38,172 shares of the company. Antares Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:ATRS)’s stock performance has been poor in 2015, decreasing by 27.24% year-to-date. However, on Wednesday, the stock rose by 3.31% to $1.87. Another investor that likes Antares Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:ATRS) is James E. Flynn’s Deerfield Management, which holds 20.83 million shares of the company.
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