Allogene Therapeutics (ALLO) said its donor cell-derived cancer treatment was successful for six months. But ALLO stock eventually ended the regular session in the red.
Three-quarters of patients with forms of lymphoma responded to Allogene's treatment, the company said. Half the patients in Allogene's test completely responded, meaning doctors couldn't find any detectable cancer following treatment.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Luca Issi called the results "impressive." Allogene is rivaling first-in-class treatments from Gilead Sciences (GILD) and Novartis (NVS). It's hoping to make a quicker and less expensive version of their blood-cancer drugs Yescarta and Kymriah.
"We are impressed by the data today given the responses are clearly durable, and we believe they are bound to improve with further optimization of the doses and refinement in I/E (inclusion/exclusion) criteria," he said in a report to clients.
On the stock market today, ALLO stock jumped as high as 11.6%, but ultimately lost 5.7%, closing at 26.85. Gilead shares rose 1.2% to 69.35. Novartis stock rose 0.3% to 87.94.
ALLO Stock Round Trips On CAR-T Data
Allogene is using a CAR-T treatment. Traditionally, technicians engineer CAR-T drugs using a patient's own cells. Immune cells known as T cells get directions to root out and destroy cancer cells. But Allogene employs donor cells instead, in a process known as allogeneic.
Allogene tested its allogeneic CAR-T treatment in patients with large B cell lymphoma and follicular lymphoma, two forms of blood cancer. In the study, 98% of patients received their treatment within an average of five days. Older CAR-T drugs, known as autologous, can take weeks to make.
At six months, 36% of patients with large B cell lymphoma had complete responses. RBC's Issi noted that's on par with historical autologous CAR-T responses. In follicular lymphoma, 24% of patients still had complete responses — no detectable signs of cancer — at six months.
Issi kept his outperform rating and 55 price target on ALLO stock.
Side Effects Generally In Line
Allogene also reported five deaths among patients. But only one death was related to treatment, the company said.
Infection rates were in line with historical autologous CAR-T treatment, Issi said. Importantly, there was no evidence of graft-versus-host disease in patients who received Allogene's allogeneic CAR-T. Graft-versus-host disease occurs when the body rejects tissue or cells from a donor.
Further, other side effects had a more muted showing for the allogeneic CAR-T recipients vs. testing data for those who received the autologous form, Issi said.
Bullishly for ALLO stock, the company is now planning to start a pivotal study later this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.