Benzinga's Microcap Movers for Wednesday March 7, 2012

Below are highlights from Benzinga's daily coverage of microcap securities making big moves: Spherix Incorporated Shares of Spherix Incorporated SPEX, the Bethesda, MD developer of pharmaceutical products, rose 21% Wednesday on 24 times the average volume. Spherix Incorporated SPEX announced Thursday that one of its drug candidates, SPX-106T, arrested development and reduced atherosclerotic plaque area in the aortic arch, thoracic aorta and sinus of Valsalva in mice genetically predisposed to cardiovascular disease. Atherosclerosis can lead to myocardial infarction and stroke. Each year, about 770,000 people in the United States experience their first MI, and about one-third of these events are fatal. Spherix Incorporated closed at $1.01 on Wednesday. AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Shares of AcelRx Pharmaceuticals ACRX, the Redwood, CA developer of specialty pharmaceutical, rose 24% Wednesday on 92 times the average daily volume. AcelRx Pharmaceuticals reported dosing of the first patient in a Phase 3 study for ARX-01 Tuesday, the Sufentanil NanoTab PCA System, its novel sublingual patient-controlled analgesia system. This first ARX-01 Phase 3 study is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled efficacy and safety trial in adults following open abdominal surgery. Approximately 150 adults, randomized 2:1 to active or placebo groups, will be treated for post-operative pain for a minimum of 48 hours and, as needed, up to 72 hours after randomization. The study will be conducted at 12 academic and community hospitals in the United States. AcelRx closed at $3.50 on Wednesday. Tibet Pharmaceuticals Shares of Tibet Pharmaceuticals TBET, the Hong Kong specialty pharmaceutical company, rose 12.5% Wednesday on 7 times the average daily volume. A Seeking Alpha article suggested Tibet would be the next Chinese company to be taken private. Tibet pharmaceuticals closed at $1.44 on Wednesday.