Florida-based biopharma CTD Holdings (OTCQB: CTDH) saw a wave of insider buying from its board members over the last several weeks.
Over a 45-day period, the company’s board members purchased more than 500,000 shares of CTDH common stock in the open market, with 90% of the shares purchased by independent, outside directors.
The timing of the latest purchases followed the company’s announcements earlier in July 2019 regarding the treatment of an Alzheimer’s patient with its drug candidate for more than a year under an FDA compassionate use program, and the Company’s endorsement of Alzheimer's Disease as its next drug development indication.
The Backstory: CTD Holdings, which plans to change its name to Cyclo Therapeutics, is developing cyclodextrin-based products for the treatment of disease with unmet medical need.
The company has been intravenously administering its proprietary Trappsol® Cyclo™ product to an Alzheimer’s patient for more than a year. In a required annual report to the FDA filed in June 2019, CTDH reported data that suggests a positive safety profile in this patient, overall stabilization of disease, and improvement in certain behavioral aspects of the disease. Given that persons with Alzheimer's Disease dementia are generally expected to decline during a one-year timeframe, the results with this patient are extremely promising.
Based on data from this case, the company’s Scientific Advisory Board formally endorsed plans to move forward with the launch of a clinical trial in Alzheimer’s in July. Insiders began adding to their positions in the weeks that followed the Company’s public announcements.
Independent Directors Added 865,000 Shares to Already Large Positions
Board member Markus Sieger, President and CEO of Polpharma Group, purchased 100,000 shares in August, increasing his total position to more than 4.5 million shares. Polpharma is among the top 20 generic drug manufacturers in the world. Its portfolio includes about 600 products and another 200 in development.
Patrick Ostronic, an officer of US Pharmacia International and CFO of its parent company, The USP Group, personally purchased 350,000 shares of CTDH in the weeks following the company announcing its plans to launch an Alzheimer’s trial. As of the latest filing, Ostronic himself owned more than 1.2 million shares of CTDH. USP has been a trend setter in the OTC medicine market for over 20 years and is currently the leading company in the OTC sector of the Polish pharmaceutical market, employing around 700 people across Eastern Europe and the United States with a portfolio of more than 100 products.
Former President & COO of Colgate-Palmolive Owns 2.5M+ Shares
Also serving on CTDH’s board is William Shanahan, the retired President and COO of Colgate-Palmolive. Shanahan joined CTDH’s board in 2016 and now owns more than 2.5 million shares of CTDH as of the latest filings, which include his 800,000 share purchase in May 2019 and his purchase of 415,000 shares in August and September 2019.
Collectively to date, CTDH insiders have invested approximately $10 million into the company.
When the people close to operations are heavily invested, it is often for good reason and warrants investor attention.
Learn more about CTDH, its work on Alzheimer’s, and its Phase I/II trials for an orphan genetic disease called Niemann-Pick Disease Type C, by visiting CTDHinfo.com.
Chairman & CEO Adds to Position
CTDH’s Chairman and CEO, Scott Fine, also added to his position in recent weeks, purchasing another 50,000 shares that takes his total ownership to more than 6.7 million shares.
Fine has been a director of CTDH since February 2014 and became the company’s CEO in September 2015. He has been involved in investment banking for over 35 years, with much of his time focused on transactions in the healthcare and consumer products arenas.
Disclosure
CTD Holdings (CTDH) is a client of RedChip Companies, Inc. CTDH agreed to pay RedChip Companies, Inc. a monthly cash fee for RedChip investor awareness services and consulting services.
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