Imugene Share Price Rockets Up

What happened to Imugene share price?

On the back of a positive announcement this morning, small-cap biotech firm Imugene [ASX:IMU] has jumped over 30%. At time of writing the stock is lying around at a 35.30% premium from yesterday.

Imugene is a biopharmaceutical company developing gastric and breast cancer immunotherapies. Their lead product is HER-Vaxx, a therapy which stimulates a polyclonal antibody response in the body to human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER 2). This is the same biomarker targeted by the US drug Herceptin, which brings in around US$6.9 billion per annum.

HER-Vaxx is currently ready for phase 2 trials, and their second product Mimotope is pre-clinical.

Why the big jump?

The company released an announcement this morning to inform the market that their Mimotope Vaccine (mimotope is another antibody reaction inducing therapy) is ready for development.

Many investors would see this progress as a form of de-risking, as the Mimotope Vaccine could create another path to revenue in conjunction with HER-Vaxx.

Biotech is renowned for being a cutthroat industry, with results of unsuccessful trials being unforgiving to small companies. Often decimating their market capital in one day.

The reward for success on the other hand, can be lucrative.

The check-point inhibitor market that Imugene hopes to take part in is largely dominated by two drugs which bring in annual sales of US$8.76 Billion annually.

Imugene CEO Leslie Chong made an encouraging statement in the announcement today, saying,

‘Development of this new immunotherapy has positioned Imugene to be a new and competitive player in the immune-oncology revolution in cancer therapy. This expands our pipeline and transforms Imugene into a multi-class biopharmaceutical company…. The progress made by the entire team raises anticipation that a paradigm shift in cancer treatment is in play.’

Imugene has been partnered with the Medical University of Vienna for the past 18 months to research and develop mimotope-based immunotherapies against validated and new oncology targets.

Regards,

Ryan Dinse,                                                       

Editor, Money Morning

and

Jack Cameron

Junior Analyst, Money Morning

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