aluxum Piper Sandler has upgraded CytomX ( NASDAQ: CTMX ) to overweight from neutral citing its lead candidate for solid tumors. The firm has a $3.50 price target (100% return based on May 24 close).
Shares are up ~7% in Tuesday pre-market trading. Analyst Joseph Catanzaro said that early safety data for CX-904, which is partnered with Amgen ( AMGN ), is encouraging. The candidate, known as a T-cell-engaging bispecific Probody, targets EGFRxCD.
"With step-dosing, all-grade [cytokine release syndrome] is absent (for the moment) vs. historical rates of ~50-60% for other solid tumor [t-cell engagers]..
...
," Catanzaro wrote. "Altogether, we think the early safety support the notion that masking has widened the therapeutic window, but that unmasking and the generation of an active CD3 TCE is occurring." Catanzaro believes that demonstrating efficacy of the Probody platform will follow soon with CX-904.
"For CX-904, the early efficacy profile (anecdotal responses in a select tumor type) largely mirrors what was observed in the early dose-finding for other now compelling solid tumor TCEs...
.Altogether, we think if CX-904 can identify the correct step-dosing strategy then it can validate the early efficacy signal in" pancreatic cancer. More on CytomX CytomX: CX-904 Tumor Treatment Data Might Get Ball Rolling CytomX Therapeutics: I'm Bullish; There's More Than One Masked Immunotherapy Company In Town CytomX slides after early data for Amgen-partnered cancer drug CytomX teams up with M.
