There's Still Time To Get Into AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ACRX)

On September 26, we told our readers to keep an eye on AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ACRX). This is a stock that's been a big winner for us over the last twelve months and we said that there was a solid chance of the win streak continuing heading into the end of 2017, with our suggestion rooted primarily in the fact that the company had an upcoming catalyst that could be a major inflection point. ACRX Daily ChartAt the time of our putting this forward, AcelRx went for around $4.15 a share. Right now, the company is trading for $5.43 – a close to 20% premium on the highlight price.So why are we coming back to it today?Well, because this could just be the start of a much larger move for the company and we thought it best to get it on the radar of any readers that might have missed our previous coverage, give them another chance to jump in ahead of the revaluation.Here's what's important.AcelRx is a development stage biotechnology company that's headquartered in California. It's trying to develop a pipeline of drugs rooted in pain management and its lead development asset right now is called DSUVIA. The drug is with the FDA as things stand as part of a New Drug Application (NDA) that rests on data collected from a phase III trial investigating its safety and efficacy in patients with moderate-to-severe acute pain following a surgical procedure.This indication is important and it's worth going into a bit of detail as to why.In the US right now, the standard of care treatment for this population is a course of opioids, generally administered in hospital and subsequently taken as part of a prescription course. When people take opioids, their pain subsides but they (in many cases) become addicted to the drug. This has led to the opioid crisis that's happening in the US and it's something that many traders and investors think is going to limit any potential sales of DSUVIA if and when it hits markets. This has led many to avoid picking up shares.That's not quite accurate, however.The asset is targeting the treatment of patients in a medically supervised setting – or, in other words, a hospital. This means that the risk of addiction, while of course present because it's an opioid, is dramatically reduced. To put that another way, patients aren’t going to be able to get DSUVIA outside of hospital so it's not really an issue.Anyway, that's looking a bit further down the lie.What's really moving this stock is the fact that DSUVIA is up for review on October 12 – in about ten days – as part of its PDUFA.If the FDA approves the drug, it will turn AcelRx from a junior biotech to a drug seller and should – in turn – attract a large portion of investors that previously were turned off based on the fact that the company wasn’t able to generate any meaningful revenues in the US since it had nothing that it could legally sell there.The opportunity, then, is to jump in ahead of the event and benefit from the inevitable upside revaluation that will come on the back of an approval.The risk is that the FDA turns the drug down and AcelRx is forced to take DSUVIA back to the drawing board. It's a smallish risk, but it's present nonetheless. The agency did initially want an adcom panel to look at the data but has since changed its mind, so what that says about the chances of a green light is anyone's guess.Anyway, for a risk-tolerant trader, even with the recent run taken into account, there's still plenty of upside available here if things pan out favorably.Check out our previous coverage of ACRX 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 Me via FlickrDisclosure: We have no position in ACRX and have not been compensated for this article.