Sangamo Therapeutics (SGMO) saw a notable increase in its stock price, closing at $2.47, up 6.93% from the previous close of $2.31. The stock opened at $2.30 and reached a high of $2.53 during the day, with trading volume significantly above average at 13,069,510 shares. The upward movement was primarily driven by the announcement of a significant licensing agreement with Astellas Pharma. This deal includes a $20 million upfront payment to Sangamo and the potential for up to $1.3 billion in additional fees and milestone payments. The agreement focuses on Sangamo's STAC-BBB technology, a neurotropic adeno-associated virus capsid that can penetrate the blood-brain barrier, which Astellas will use to develop gene therapies for neurological diseases.
Despite the positive news, some investors expressed concerns about potential market manipulation, as noted in discussions on Reddit. One user commented, "Large buys followed by large sells... My take is that a lot of people had trailing stops set, and someone was selling off to try and get them to trigger." This sentiment suggests that trading patterns may have been influenced by strategic selling to trigger stop-loss orders. Nonetheless, the licensing agreement with Astellas highlights the continued industry interest in Sangamo's technology and its potential to address significant unmet medical needs in gene therapy.