The 10 Best-Performing Biotech Penny Stocks and 1 Biotech Stock to Buy

Biotech Penny StocksSome biotech penny stocks are up as much as 333.9% year to date (YTD), and we've compiled the best-performing biotech penny stocks in 2017 in the list below.

Plus, after the list, I'll show you a biotech stock that has the potential to book profits of more than 120% in the next year.

Editor's Note: These are the three best pharmaceutical stocks to buy right now to double your money...

Here's the full list of biotech penny stocks. Eight of the 10 stocks have triple-digit gains...

Rank Company (Ticker) Price YTD Gains
10 Verastem Inc. (Nasdaq: VSTM) $2.16 89.3%
9 Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: PPHM) $0.56 90.8%
8 Protolix Bio Therapeutics Inc. (NYSE: PLX) $0.91 101.1%
7 Zosano Pharmaceutical Corp. (Nasdaq: ZSAN) $1.58 114.1%
6 Rexahn Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NYSE: RNN) $3.29 132.6%
5 Bellerophon Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: BLPH) $1.35 153.8%
4 Cleveland BioLabs Inc. (Nasdaq: CBLI) $3.65 157.8%
3 Cymbay Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: CBAY) $4.67 167.1%
2 Pieris Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: PIRS) $4.28 212.4%
1 Pulmatrix Inc. (Nasdaq: PULM) $2.60 333.9%

While those types of gains can be tempting, we don't recommend buying penny stocks because they are too volatile for retail investors.

And because these stocks are so volatile, these impressive gains may not last.

However, we've found a biotech stock for readers today that could double your money starting as early as Aug. 1. It's not technically a penny stock, but at $12 per share, it still has plenty of room to soar.

This company is taking a new cancer treatment to market, and getting in now ensures huge profits ahead of the drug's release. The market potential of the new drug is likely to reach billions of dollars...

One of the Best Biotech Stocks to Buy in 2017

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On May 24, Insys Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: INSY) cleared the last FDA hurdle to bring its drug Syndros to market, making it the breakout biotech stock of the year. The stock was up 26% between May 15, when Money Morning Executive Editor Bill Patalon recommended it, and May 30.

The last hurdle for Syndros was FDA approval of its product label. With the approval to treat chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, as well as anorexia in AIDS patients, the drug is set to be released to the market in August.

According to the National Cancer Institute, there were 15 million cancer patients in the United States in 2014. About 80% of those patients suffer from chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. That makes Syndros' potential market about 12 million patients.

Plus, it is likely that Syndros will be used for an "off-label" treatment of pain. Dronabinol, the active ingredient in Syndros, has been proven effective in treating pain, according to Patalon.

With the push for non-opioid pain killers, Syndros' off-label market may be larger than its FDA-approved market. Pain treatments were a $60.2 billion market globally in 2015, according to Transparency Market Research. That market is expected to grow to $83 billion by 2024.

In addition, two of the six drugs Insys has in its pipeline are in stage 3 clinical trials. They could be on the market in the next few years, boosting the company's revenue and profits even higher. In fact, the six Wall Street analysts that cover the stock expect revenue for the full-year 2018 to climb 33.6%.

Because of all of this, one Wall Street analyst covering the stock has a one-year price target for INSY stock of $26. That's a potential gain of 122% over its current price of $11.73 per share.

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