Back in May, Money Morning Executive Editor Bill Patalon recommended one of the best biotech stocks of 2017. Readers who followed Patalon's advice to buy this stock ahead of an FDA decision date of May 24 saw gains as high as 26% in just two weeks.
Gains this large make it easy to think you missed the boat. But it isn't too late to buy Patalon's biotech stock pick. In fact, one Wall Street analyst thinks this stock could gain as much as 130% in the next 12 months.
And the company's cancer drugs are a big reason for the expected gains...
Why This Is One of the Best Biotech Stocks to Buy in 2017
The company's main drug is currently the only treatment on the market for breakthrough cancer pain (BTCP). The treatment delivers a powerful drug in liquid form so it can be absorbed under the tongue.
BREAKING: New Legislation Could Turn Tiny Pot Stocks into Millions. Click Here...
Sales of the drug to the company's four largest wholesalers were $22 million in Q1 this year. An additional $11 million worth of the drug went to specialty pharmacies during the same quarter.
This isn't the only good news for the biotech company.
On May 24, the company received final approval from the FDA for a new drug. The drug, which was made available yesterday (Monday), is a cannabis-derived treatment for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.
This new drug will have a large market. The National Cancer Institute reports that there were nearly 15 million people with cancer in the United States alone in 2014. Of those patients, 80% reported dealing with nausea and vomiting.
The new drug also puts the company at the convergence of two very powerful trends in the biotech industry that will propel the stock higher...
[mmpazkzone name="in-story" network="9794" site="307044" id="137008" type="4"]
Insys Is Riding the Convergence of Non-Opioid Pain Killers and Medical Marijuana
Insys Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: INSY) is Patalon's biotech pick because it is at the convergence of two very powerful trends: the search for non-opioid pain killers and medical marijuana.
The company's main drug, Subsys, is for BTCP. The problem is that it is still a highly addictive opioid pain killer.
There has been a big push to find non-opioid pain management solutions because so many are abusing opioid pain killers. There were more than 30,000 deaths caused by opioid overdose in the United States in 2015, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC).
Insys' new drug, Syndros, may be perfectly positioned to be one of these non-opioid pain killers. It also happens to be a cannabinoid-based drug, as well.
Syndros is approved to treat chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, but studies have shown its active ingredient is also effective in treating pain.
This means that the drug could have an "off-label" market potential. Off-label means that studies have shown the drug to be effective in treating a condition it is not FDA-approved to treat.
The pain management industry is huge. Transparency Market Research reports that global sales for pain treatments are forecasted to grow from $60.2 billion in 2015 to $83 billion by 2024.
"Insys has big upside because it's trying (and, so far, succeeding with flying colors) to work at the 'convergence' of those two powerful trends," said Patalon in May.
We're not the only ones bullish on INSY. The five analysts following Insys have a consensus one-year target price of $16.40 for the stock. That would be a gain of 45% from its current price of $11.31 in the next 12 months
But one analyst thinks the price of INSY could go as high as $26 per share in the next year, for a gain of 130%.
The Bottom Line: Insys' new drug puts the company at the convergence of non-opioid pain medications and medical marijuana. This convergence is why Patalon recommends INSY. And the stock could gain as much as 130% in the next 12 months, more than doubling your money.
Turn a Small Stake into a Fortune: A new earth-shattering government announcement could completely change the legalization of marijuana - forever. In fact, thanks to this historic legislation, tiny pot stocks trading for under $5 are getting set to double, triple, or quadruple. In an exclusive interview with Money Morning, pot stock expert Michael Robinson shares all the good news - including details on five tiny weed stocks that could potentially turn a small stake into $100,000. Click here to continue.
Follow Money Morning on Twitter @moneymorning, Facebook, and LinkedIn.