Israeli executives of Protalix Biotherapeutics Inc. (AMEX:PLX; TASE: PLX) have benefitted from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the company's treatment for Gaucher's disease last week, selling shares at high profits. It should be stressed that the sales were blind sales (automatic sales after a period of time).
Protalix CEO David Aviezer sold 450,000 shares on May 2 at an average price of $7.13. He received the shares by exercising options for 326,000 shares at $0.12 per share and exercising options for 123,700 shares at $0.97 per share. He sold the shares for $3.2 million and made a pretax profit of $3.05 million.
Protalix VP R&D Shaaltiel Yoseph sold 300,000 shares on May 2 at $7.13 per share, for a total of $2.14 million. Protalix CFO Yossi Maimon sold 125,964 shares at $7.13 per share, for a pretax profit of $692,000. Protalix VP product development Almon Einat Brill sold 166,848 shares at $7.13 per share, for a total of $1.19 million, and made a pretax profit of $940,000.
After Wall Street closed on Tuesday May 1, Protalix announced that the FDA granted marketing approval for company's treatment for Gaucher's disease, Elelyso. Following the announcement, the company's share price soared on the TASE and subsequently in early trading on the American Stock Exchange, although the share fell back in later trading.
Protalix's share price fell 2.6% in early trading on the TASE today to NIS 25.85, after rising 2.1% on Wall Street on Friday to $6.87, giving a market cap of $624 million.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 6, 2012
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