Invivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:NVIV) Is Today's Biotech Focus

Invivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp (NVIV), the biotechnology company, has become, over the years, one of the most popular biotech companies on social media. Examples include articles on Seeking Alpha, such as "Why I think InVivo Shares Are Worth A Double" written by Jason Napodano, CFA, the Yahoo Finance Forum, which includes 1,618 reactions as of July 1, 2017, or the iHub Forum.Last month, the company released a new patient enrollment into the INSPIRE study to treat Thoracic AIS, A Spinal Cord Injury, as well as the positive results of the trial with two patients. Additionally, it was put out that UCHealth Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs, CO, will be another clinical site, where the company will be running INSPIRE study. A total of 32 clinical sites are participating in the study at the moment.What was the market reaction to this exciting news? Market participants pushed up the share price by 13% in one day. Have a look at the recent price action.SourceInVivo Therapeutics and its recent announcementsThe company is a clinical-stage biomaterials and biotechnology company, researching and developing treatments for patients suffering from spinal cord injuries. The treatment is based on the use of Neuro-Spinal Scaffold™ implant, which is "a bioresorbable polymer scaffold that is designed for implantation at the site of injury within a spinal cord and is intended to treat acute bioresorbable polymer scaffold that is designed for implantation at the site of injury within a spinal cord and is intended to treat acute SCI."SourceThe company owns intangible assets and know-how from Boston Children’s Hospital, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Additionally, NVIV also owns agreements with the University of California, San Diego, to research and develop a preclinical Therapeutic Trials™ injection program. The most advanced treatment is the complete thoracic spinal cord injury. Have a look:SourceLet's focus on the news. On June 20, 2017, a new patient was enrolled at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA. According to the press release, Drs. Dan Altman, Nestor Tomycz, and Terrence Julien successfully performed the surgery and implantation approximately 21 hours after the injury occurred. Dr. Julien, System Co-Director of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery and Principal Investigator, explained in following words:

“We are all hoping for the best possible outcome for this and all patients enrolled in the study. This will certainly be a landmark study and once again demonstrates the AHN Neurosurgery Department’s commitment to world class research endeavors brought to the Pittsburgh region.” Source

Additionally, the CEO and Chairman of NVIV, Mark Perrin, said that the implantation was a success and noted that new patients will be treated soon:

“The patient is stable and the implantation procedure was a success. We now have 16 patients in follow up, and with the reported increase in spinal cord injury incidence during the summer months, we remain on track to complete enrollment into INSPIRE during the third quarter of this year.” Source

On June 27, 2017, another patient was enrolled into the program at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. The doctors said that they "successfully performed the surgery and implantation approximately 22 hours after the injury occurred". Dr. Harrop explained it with the following words:

“The surgery and implantation went smoothly and the patient is recovering well. We are excited to be part of The INSPIRE Study and we look forward to following and communicating the patient’s progress.” Source

Furthermore, as per our belief, the most relevant news was released on June 28, 2017. Two patients enrolled in the INSPIRE study had improved from sensory incomplete AIS B spinal cord injury to motor incomplete AIS C SCI in their most recent INSPIRE assessments. Let's remind market participants that these are the second and third patients in the study to have reached AIS C motor incomplete classification. This was extraordinary news for the company, but, most importantly, for its future patients. The InVivo CEO and Chairman, Mark Perrin, explained more:

“We are excited that these two patients have continued to progress beyond the period of early improvement. Three of the five patients with an AIS conversion in INSPIRE have demonstrated motor recovery and are now classified as AIS C conversions.” Source

Finally, the addition of UCHealth Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs, CO, to the INSPIRE program did not seem to create significant share price reaction. But, the news is relevant, as it made the company recap and list all the institutions working with it. In the press release, there is a list of all of them.Financial situation and market participants with large stakes These are some numbers which will help readers understand the financial situation of the company. It is worth noting that the company has tons of cash and little debt.

• Cash per share: $0.81
• Book value per share: $0.75
• Share price as of July 1,2017: $2.70
• Market cap: $86 million
• Total debt: $1.17 million

The following is a list of institutional investors with stakes in the company.HolderSharesDate Reported% OutValueBlackrock Inc.1,954,322Mar 30, 20176.08%8,110,436Vanguard Group, Inc. (The)1,124,628Mar 30, 20173.50%4,667,206Welch & Forbes, LLC509,149Mar 30, 20171.58%2,112,968State Street Corporation463,666Mar 30, 20171.44%1,924,213IMS Capital Management435,988Mar 30, 20171.36%1,809,350Baker Brothers Advisors, LLC400,000Mar 30, 20171.24%1,660,000Northern Trust Corporation340,126Mar 30, 20171.06%1,411,522SourceAdditionally, it is important to note that insiders in the firm trust the direction of the company and own approximately 18% of the total outstanding shares.ConclusionWe have seen very good news recently. The most important was that two patients improved from sensory incomplete AIS B spinal cord injury to motor incomplete AIS C SCI. This caused the share price to jump last month. Additionally, large amount of news were released that were very positive, including new patients enrolled and a new hospital willing to collaborate with the company. On top of it, the financial shape of the company is good and many large institutions have taken stakes in the company. To sum up, social media is talking about this company for very good reasons. The stock has shown that it can be a big mover in the biotech space.We will be updating our subscribers as soon as we know more. For the latest updates on NVIV, sign up below!Image courtesy of FlickrDisclosure: We have no position in NVIV and have not been compensated for this article.