On Friday, Chardan Capital Markets adjusted its price target for Immuneering Corporation (NASDAQ:IMRX), a biopharmaceutical company, reducing it to $16.00 from the previous $21.00. Despite the price target reduction, the firm maintained a Buy rating on the stock. The adjustment follows Immuneering's recent announcement of preliminary data from the phase I segment of its trial for IMM-1-104, a lead MEK inhibitor candidate.
Immuneering reported on Wednesday that its phase I study data, which had a cut-off date of February 20, 2024, supported the selection of a 320 mg daily dose as the recommended phase 2 dose (RP2D). The phase IIa portion has started dosing patients as of March 11.
The phase IIa trial will enroll patients in five cohorts, focusing on pancreatic cancer, RAS-mutant melanoma, and RAS-mutant non-small cell lung cancer, with two cohorts dedicated to pancreatic cancer patients being assessed in combination with chemotherapy regimens in first-line treatments.
The phase I data indicated a clean safety profile and confirmed pathway inhibition consistent with preclinical models. However, it did not yet provide a definitive indication of the drug's single-agent activity, particularly in patients who have undergone multiple lines of prior treatment.
The company did observe some promising signs of lesion regression, including in pancreatic cancer cases, but these findings have not significantly bolstered the confidence that IMM-1-104 can induce clinically meaningful tumor regressions.
In response to the early findings, Chardan Capital Markets updated its model to reflect a more conservative probability of success (PoS) for IMM-1-104 in pancreatic cancer and non-small cell lung cancer, along with anticipated dilution. The new probabilities of success are set at 10% for pancreatic cancer, down from 12%, and 15% for non-small cell lung cancer, reduced from 17.5%.
The firm anticipates that strong results from the phase II trials, especially from cohorts treated earlier in their disease progression, could potentially increase confidence in IMM-1-104 in the future.
Additionally, the safety profile and pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) data suggest that IMM-1-104 could be a viable candidate for use in combination therapy regimens. However, upcoming phase II data for pancreatic cancer combinations may not be mature enough within this year to clearly show differentiation when compared to existing first-line treatments that have objective response rates (ORRs) between 23% and 32%.
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