AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ACRX) Continues To Soar

Readers are running out of time to pick up an exposure to AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ACRX). We first highlighted this company back on July 6 as part of our Biotech Catalyst series. The series, which is our effort to highlight a range of key biotech catalysts to our readers before they hit press and before wider markets pay attention to the companies that underpin them, has brought with it a number of considerable wins for readers that have acted on the back of our analysis. In this instance, we are still waiting for the catalyst in question, but we haven't had to wait for the position to start returning value.As mentioned, our initial highlighting of AcelRx came on July 6, when the company was trading for around two dollars a share. By July 18, a number of other outlets had picked up on the nearing catalyst and the company had started to draw a degree of speculative volume. We took another look at it at that time in an attempt to bring it to the attention of any readers that might have missed our initial coverage. By then, AcelRx went for $3.20 a share, a 60% premium on the July 6 signal price.Fast-forward another week and the company is up yet further.During the session on Monday, AcelRx gained 15% and closed out at $3.65 a share for a market capitalization of $165 million. This is a company that has had a real tough 2017 to date and the recent levels represent the highest recorded for AcelRx since early October last year.Importantly, all this is happening without the catalyst even having been released.For those that remain new to this one, the catalyst in question derives from an ongoing phase 3 study of a pain management drug called Zalviso. It is already approved in Europe and the phase 3 study that we are looking at here is designed to underpin a registration application in the US. If the numbers hit press as positive, we should see said submission before the end of the year, opening up the potential for a green light for commercialization of this asset at some point during mid 2018. There is also a second (and likely more impactful) catalyst set to hit press during October, but right now, let's just focus on Zalviso.Earlier this year, AcelRx management reported that it intends to put out topline from the study in question at some point during July 2017. It's now July 25, meaning there are four more days (inclusive of this one) that could potentially be release days, assuming the company hits on its own release targets (and there is no indication that it won't).Financial results are set to hit press on August 2, which is Wednesday next week, and management will host a conference call immediately subsequent to the release of these numbers to discuss the quarter in question. If these numbers are strong, their impact will compound any upside momentum brought about by the release of positive data from the above-mentioned Zalviso trial and this stock could really start to run.As a side note, it is a little odd that management would announce the financial results conference call without any mention of the pending data release, but this may be by design. The company might want to delay conversation surrounding the numbers until the conference call in question, so as to avoid having to address markets twice. If this is the case, then the data release remains on track for the end of this week and should be a key topic of discussion as and when management takes the stage next Wednesday.Check out our previous coverage of this one here.We will be updating our subscribers as soon as we know more. For the latest updates on ACRX, sign up below!Image courtesy of The Comedian via FlickrDisclosure: We have no position in ACRX and have not been compensated for this article.