Top five life science stocks of the first quarter

The stock market year 2023 has so far been characterized by central banks' attempts to curb inflation. In mid-March, interest rate hikes claimed their first victims, including Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapsed. The collapse of SVB and the crisis of the major Swiss bank Credit Suisse created a wave of concern throughout the market.

Despite a shaky financial sector, the broad market performed well in the first quarter. S & P 500 rose by 7 percent and Nasdaq Composite by 17 percent. The biotech sector performed somewhat weaker. Nasdaq Biotechnology Index and Nasdaq Junior Biotechnology Index fell by 2 and 7 percent respectively.

Some lightening in biotech

Overall, it can be said that the larger companies fared better than the smaller ones – a clear indication of the market's risk appetite at the moment. Among the larger companies, we noted continued strong performance Novo Nordisk, which is reaping great success with its GLP1 inhibitors. The Danish flagship's stock climbed 16 percent during Q1.

We have seen some improvement among smaller companies, but investors continue to be cautious. We see this not least among capital raisings, where only a few financing rounds were fully subscribed during the quarter. An example is Spotlight-noted Spermosis, whose rights issue in January was oversubscribed by 21 percent.

However, there are those who believe that the market is about to turn for the biotechnology sector. BioStock previously reported on an analysis from Sunstone Life Science VenturesThe report examines the conditions for a turnaround in the sector. Read more.

Lists the top five life science stocks

Despite the troubled market, there are many biotech companies that have had anything but a poor share price performance. The strongest performance was seen in the medical technology company Phase Holographic Imaging after the Swiss distributor and investment company altium taken a corner in the company. Read morePHI shares rose by a whopping 250 percent.

Expectations are high for the Danish medical technology company Fluoroguide, whose stock climbed almost 170 percent during Q1. This despite the company announcing that the Phase IIb results regarding FG001 in aggressive brain cancer will be delayed until the fall.

Another winner is the drug developer Asarina Pharma who reported positive phase IIa data with the candidate Sepranolone, for the treatment of Tourette syndrome. Sepranolone combined with standard treatment was shown to be more effective than standard treatment alone. Asarina shares rose by over 1 percent during Q200, before falling back slightly after the end of the quarter.

Another company that presented positive data was Lunda-based Cantargia. The drug candidate CAN10, which is being developed for the treatment of myocarditis and systemic sclerosis, was well tolerated in the company's tox study. The company will initiate a Phase I study with the candidate in the first half of 2023. Cantargia shares were actively traded during Q1 and traded up approximately 120 percent.

Furthermore, the vaccine developer also showed Ziccum on progress during the first quarter. The company updated the market on their mRNA vaccine project, which was rewarded with a share price increase of 107 percent.

The losers have completed capital rounds

In the table below, we have listed the performance of the five best-performing biotech companies on the stock market during the first quarter. We have covered several of them in our weekly update. The Stock Exchange Round, while some have slipped under the radar. For the companies that have experienced the biggest price declines, the common denominator is that they have completed or announced financing rounds.