bymuratdeniz/iStock via Getty Images Early-stage data from Pfizer’s ( NYSE: PFE ) experimental breast cancer therapy PF-07248144 boosted the shares of Olema Pharmaceuticals ( NASDAQ: OLMA ), which is advancing a similar treatment, for the second straight session on Tuesday. Following a two-day rally, shares of the San Francisco, California-based cancer drug developer have approached the highest level in more than three months. The upsurge followed peer-reviewed data for PF-07248144 published in the journal Nature Medicine over the weekend in conjunction with a presentation at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
In the publication based on the drug’s first-in-human trial, the investigators wrote that PF-07248144 with FDA-approved cancer therapy fulvestrant led to a “ tolerable safety profile and durable antitumor activity” as a late-line option in certain patients with HER2-negative breast cancer. PF-07248144, designed to target the tumor-related compound histone lysine acetyltransferases (KATs), has a mechanism of action similar to Olema’s ( OLMA ) KAT6 inhibitor, OP-3136, which is currently in preclinical development. Pfizer ( PFE ) findings were “the most exciting Phase 1 results” at the ASCO meeting, Oppenheimer Matthew Biegler, who has an Outperform rating and a $21 per share target on OLMA, wrote.
Biegler pointed out that Olema ( OLMA ) is the only other publicly traded biotech studying KAT-6, and its potential cance.
