Stonepine Capital is a fund we’ve followed pretty closely here at Small Cap Exclusive. The Oregon based fund is renowned for its smart healthcare picks, and is one of the more activist entities when it comes to sorting out management issue, especially at the smaller end of the space. The fund just made another buy.

In a just published Form 13, filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Recro Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ:REPH) reported that  Stonepine Capital Management, Llc. has picked up 2,874,317 of common stock as of 2016-12-19.

The acquisition brings the aggregate amount owned by Stonepine Capital Management, Llc. to a total of 2,874,317 representing a 15.2 % stake in the company.

For those not familiar with the company, Recro Pharma, Inc. is a clinical-stage specialty pharmaceutical company. The Company is engaged in developing products for hospitals and ambulatory care settings that is developing non-opioid products for treatment of serious acute pain. The Company’s lead product candidate is an injectable form of meloxicam. Its product candidates for pain indications include injectable meloxicam, a product candidate in development for the treatment of acute post-operative pain; Dex-IN, a product candidate under development for the treatment of post-operative pain; Dex-SL, a product candidate for the treatment of chronic pain, and Fadolmidine (Fado), a product candidate used by injection into the spine for pain associated with surgery or certain types of chronic pain.

A glance at Recro Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ:REPH)’s key stats reveals a current market capitalization of $91.24 million based on 18.87 million shares outstanding and a price at last close of $7.15 per share.

Looking at insider activity, there are a few transactions worth noting.

Specifically, on 2016-12-16, Weisman picked up 3,000 shares of Recro at a purchase price of $6.57. This brings their total holding to 7,000 shares, as of the date of the filing.

On the sell side, the most recent transaction saw Scp unload 7,497 shares at a sale price of $6.30. This brings their total holding to 2,322,824.         .

It’s possible to gauge a company’s potential by tracking the activity of its major holders, as well as checking in on insider activity such as those transactions listed above. We’ll be keeping an eye on Recro Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ:REPH) as things move forward to see if its progress aligns with these transactions.

Non opioid pain killers are a hot topic right now, especially given the 21st Century Cures Act passing and its focus on the opioid abuse epidemic in the US. This is probably what’s driving Stonepine’s exposure.