Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM) Shares Surge on Positive Treatment Results

Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. (ASTM) shares jumped Friday after the company announced that results from its Phase 2a clinical studies of ixmyelocel-T for the treatment of advanced heart failure due to ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy [DCM] showed that treatment with ixmyelocel-T reduced the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events [MACE] in patients with ischemic DCM.

“Based upon these results, we see great promise in the use of ixmyelocel-T to treat dilated cardiomyopathy and are working aggressively to advance this development program to the final stages of clinical research and regulatory review,” Dave Recker, M.D., Aastrom’s chief medical officer said in a statement.

Shares of Aastrom Biosciences are up almost 9% to $3.94 in early market trading Friday. ASTM, valued at $31.52 million, opened at $3.88 and spiked as high as $4.25 intraday. Currently, ticker has a t-12 price/sales ratio of 6.56. EPS for the same period registers negative at $5.50.

In terms of ratings, there are 2 analysts that rate Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. a ‘Buy’, and 3 rate it a ‘Hold’. No analysts rate it a sell. ASTM has a median Wall Street price-per-share target of $4.25.

In the past 52 weeks, shares of Aastrom have traded between a low of $3.09 and a high of $7.00. ASTM is down about 35% y/y. Year-to-date however, ticker is up 21.37%. ASTM is trading at an unusually high volume today with 658.000 shares changing hands. It is currently at 3x its average daily volume.

The chart below shows where the equity has traded over the last year, with the 50-day and 200-day moving averages included.

Aastrom Biosciences, Inc., is a clinical-stage biotechnology company that focuses on the development of cell therapies for use in the treatment of severe chronic ischemic cardiovascular diseases. The firm was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

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