SenoRx Now Free to Pursue Breast Cancer Targets (SENO)
SenoRx, Inc. (NASDAQ: SENO) was the top percentage gainer on NASDAQ this morning. We figured it was traders trying to chase the next big winner on a drug study in the land of small-cap and low-priced stocks. As it turns out, this stock is up so much because of winning a patent suit.
The company announced that a jury delivered a verdict in favor of SenoRx in a lawsuit brought by Hologic, Inc., Cytyc Corp., and Hologic L.P. in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Hologic had alleged that SenoRx infringed claims of Hologic’s 6,413,204 and 6,482,142 patents. SenoRx claimed that both patents were invalid, and that the ‘204 patent was not infringed. The jury found that SenoRx was not liable for infringement of the ‘204 patent and that both patents were invalid.
What is interesting about this is that there is no solid announcement on the company’s plans. It only noted, “…We look forward to focusing all of management’s time on continuing to develop innovative new products to assist and improve the medical community’s ability to diagnose and more effectively treat breast cancer.”
Shares are up 26% at $6.42 after 15 minutes of trading on 165,000 shares. The average volume here is only about 33,000 shares and the 52-week trading range has now been violated to the upside. The new 52-week range was $2.30 to $6.67. The market cap after today’s gain takes it out of micro-cap land with a market cap of about $112 million.
The company came public in 2007 and traded from $8 to $10 per share before a long deep slide in 2008 took it ultimately close to $2 at the end of 2008. As of September 30, 2009, SenoRx had $17.21 million in cash and equivalents and its total liabilities were only $7.54 million.
JON C. OGG
