We’ve come to the end of the week and what a week it’s been in the biotech space. We’ve had plenty of activity across the board, big and small, and plenty to carry in to the Easter weekend as informative of a near term bias once the the break comes to an end.

Here’s a look at a couple of the biggest end of the week movers, with an analysis of what’s moving each, and how we expect things to play out once markets pick up again next week.

The two companies we’re focusing on today are Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc.(NYSEMKT:RNN) and Verastem Inc (NASDAQ:VSTM).

So let’s Kick things off with Rexahn.

This company has had a pretty strong start to 2017. It’s got a strong pipeline of assets across a range of indications, and the management expects that some of these programs will read out during this year. As many reading will be aware, data read outs serve as binary catalysts in this space, and that’s what the traders are looking for.

Looking specifically at the pipeline, Rexahn has got three what we might call primary assets – RX-3117, Archexin and Supinoxin. The first, RX-3117 is currently in the second stage of a phase IIa study investigating the asset in metastatic pancreatic cancer (both relapsed and refractory) and it’s in a concurrent phase IIa investigating efficacy in advanced bladder cancer. Archexin is under investigation in a metastatic renal cell carcinoma as part of a phase IIa study (notice a pattern here?) and Supinoxin is in a phase IIa investigating efficacy in triple negative breast cancer.

As mentioned, a few of these trials (pancreatic cancer, bladder cancer and breast cancer) are expected to read out at some point during 2017, likely during the late third or early fourth quarter, and much of the above discussed advance that we’ve seen in the company derives from operators loading up ahead of this data hitting press.

So what just happened, and why is the company moving now?

Well, Rexahn just announced a 1 for 10 reverse split, and the markets have reacted negatively to the news. Pre-announcement, Rexahn was trading in and around $0.67 a share. It closed out the week at $0.45 – a 26% decline on the news.

The thing with reverse splits is that they shouldn’t affect value in theory, but they generally do, as a company will often find it difficult to maintain its post split price. As such, and in anticipation of this phenomenon materializing, shareholders will off sell off on a company a bit ahead of the split, as a sort of rebalancing.

On the positive side of the picture is the fact that the split will (if maintained) boost the company to a PPS that makes it much more accessible to some of the larger, institutional investors out there, and this will, in turn, result in some larger scale loading ahead of the above discussed catalysts.

That’s the hope, at least.

So, moving into next week, we’re looking for the company to maintain its current price, or perhaps close the gap a little, before splitting on May 5.

Moving on, Verastem.

This one’s a little different, both in terms of driver and response. The company gained close to 15% during the session on Thursday, on the release of a research note by respected research firm Oppenheimer. The latter initiated coverage on Verastem with an outperform rating, and put an initial price target on the company of $6. At the present time, Verastem trades for around $1.85 (and that’s after the run that saw it boost yesterday), so a $6 target suggests there’s plenty of potential upside on the cards.

Of course, if this upside is to become a reality, the company has to hit on a couple of key milestones as 2017 matures.

For those new to this one, Verastem is a biotech that’s working to bring stem cell therapies to market. It’s lead candidate is a drug called duvelisib, and it’s currently being evaluated in a phase III study called DUO, looking at efficacy in patients with relapsed or refractory CLL. There’s a deeper pipeline coming through the ranks, but it’s this study on which most of the company’s development based value rests right now.

Looking forward. Verastem took a hit late March, and we expect the Oppenheimer note to go some way towards closing the gap on this decline.