That process can take years and cost billions of dollars per drug candidate. And it's no guarantee of approval. In fact, less than 14% of drug candidates make it from Phase I clinical trials to approval.
This is especially true for small, early-stage biotech firms that only have one drug candidate in their pipeline. For these firms, approval or positive results can mean hitting the jackpot, as you can see in this graph of the stock price of MacroGenics (NASDAQ: MGNX) after the release of positive Phase III trial results for its breast cancer drug Margetuximab.
You could be one of these lucky shareholders... if you can pick the winning drugs out of the hundreds of candidates that are clinically tested each year.
Phase II and III clinical trial results, acceptance into an FDA fast lane program, New Drug Application (NDA) acceptance, and FDA approval can all serve as catalysts for stock price jumps... or not.
Next week, in his Topline Trader Summit, Jason will tell you how this revolutionary biotech trading system works — for free.