Irvine’s NeoTherapeutics Sees Stock Jump 20%

Shares of NeoTherapeutics Inc. surged 20% Wednesday on news that investor Peter Kellogg has a 6.6% stake in the Irvine biopharmaceutical company.

A company spokesman said the stock’s 84-cent gain to $4.97 a share was related to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission showing that Kellogg holds 880,000 shares. The shares, which trade on Nasdaq, still have lost about nearly 80% of their value over the last year.

It isn’t clear how long Kellogg, a retired founding member of Spear, Leeds & Kellogg, has held the shares, but he’s considered a “big name” by investors, said John McManus, NeoTherapeutics’ vice president of investor relations.

Investors began talking about the March 2 filing on Internet message boards Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, McManus said. (Dow Jones)