venBio's New Biotech Bet is One to Watch

venBio was one of the top performing equity hedge funds in 2014 with a 73.5% net return, according to Preqin, and the fund was said to be up over 20% in the first quarter of this year. So when the firm's 13F was released late last week biotech investors in the know were busy pouring over the data.

One interesting new trade investors focused in on is a new 1,438,693 share bet on Vanda Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VNDA).

Vanda is already posting strong sales with Hetlioz and Fanapt. The company also has multiple trials planned within the next 12 months, including Hetlioz for SMS and jet-lag and an exploratory trial of VLY-686 in pruritus.

Jefferies analyst, Chris Howerton, who rates the stock a Buy with a $20 price target noted that on its latest quarterly conference call, "VNDA reiterated plans to initiate an interventional study in Smith-Magenis Syndrome (SMS) by YE, which mgmt. believes could be pivotal pending discussions with regulators. Additionally, mgmt suggested the NDA package for Hetlioz in jet lag would include data from a single Ph 3 trial (initiate YE15/1H16) and two previously completed trials; with positive data, mgmt. believes commercial launch for Hetlioz in jetlag could happen as soon as 1Q18."

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