Can ImmunoGen's Key Ovarian Cancer Candidate Drive Growth?
On February 14, 2018, we issued an updated report on ImmunoGen, Inc. IMGN.
ImmunoGen reported fourth-quarter results on Feb 9, 2018. The company posted wider-than-expected loss in the reported quarter with revenues missing estimates. However, with the loss being significantly narrower than the year-ago figure, sales show a massive increase during the period. This top-line improvement was mainly driven by substantially higher license and milestone fees related to divestment of the company’s non-core B-cell assets, IMGN529, in November 2017 to Debiopharm International. On fourth-quarter conference call, focus was mainly on the progress related to the company's pipeline development.
Shares of ImmunoGen have significantly outperformed the industry in a year’s time. The stock has soared 300% against the industry’s decline of 0.8%.
ImmunoGen has significantly progressed with respect to its lead pipeline candidate, mirvetuximab soravtansine. The candidate is under evaluation in a phase III study (FORWARD I) as a single-agent therapy for treating patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, whose tumors express high or medium levels of FR alpha.
Notably, combo therapies with mirvetuximab soravtansine for ovarian cancer are being evaluated in the phase Ib/II FORWARD II study. The study consists of cohorts assessing mirvetuximab soravtansine in combination with Roche's RHHBY Avastin and Merck's MRK Keytruda. Initial data from the study demonstrated that the candidate has potential to complement all available therapies for the indication. Updated data from the program is expected in the first half of 2018.
Notably, mirvetuximab soravtansine enjoys an Orphan Drug status in both the United States and the EU for treatment of ovarian cancer.
Apart from mirvetuximab soravtansine, ImmunoGen works upon developing a couple of other candidates including IMGN779 and IMGN632. In December 2017, ImmunoGen released positive findings from the ongoing phase I study, evaluating IMGN779 on patients with relapsed or refractory adult acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Earlier, this January, the company initiated a phase I program, analyzing IMGN632 to treat hematological malignancies including AML.
ImmunoGen has agreements with several big healthcare companies including Amgen AMGN, Bayer, Eli Lilly, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi and Takeda. These contracts in turn allow other companies to use ImmunoGen’s ADC technology and provide it with funds in the form of license and milestone fees, royalties, clinical materials revenues and R&D (research and development) support fees.
Zacks Rank
ImmunoGen carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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