Ziopharm down despite pipeline advancement and cash influx

Investors are not showing any enthusiasm for Ziopharm Oncology (ZIOP -6.2%) on the heels of its Q4 report released after the close yesterday.

Results were generally in line with views considering that it does not generate any revenues yet.

The company has refilled its cash coffers with a $20.3M prepayment from it R&D agreement with MD Anderson Cancer Center and ~$98M from an equity offering. Its current balance of ~$177M should be sufficient to fund operations into mid-2022.

Key H1 milestones:

Start of dosing in NCI-led Phase 2 Sleeping Beauty TCR-T study in solid tumors.

Initiation of enrollment in Phase 1 Sleeping Beauty CD19-specific CAR-T RPM study with membrane-bound IL-15 at MD Anderson.

Complete enrollment and report initial data from Phase 2 study of Controlled IL-12 platform + Libtayo (cemiplimab-rwlc).

Data readouts from Phase 1 trials of Controlled IL-12 as monotherapy and in combination with Opdivo (nivolumab).

The only analyst action has been Raymond James which cut its fair value target to $5.50 (from $6.50) while maintaining its Buy rating.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3548078-ziopharm-down-6-despite-pipeline-advancement-and-cash-influx