######### Small cap biotech Immutep soars 10.5pc on Merck dealYolanda RedrupYolanda RedrupReporterMar 16, 2021 – 5.43pmSaveShareSmall cap biotech Immutep inked its second deal with $248 billion global giant Merck on Tuesday, sending its shares soaring almost 10.5 per cent.The company, which is developing immunotherapy treatments for cancer, infectious diseases and autoimmune disease, signed a deal to conduct a phase 2B clinical trial for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (a type of cancer) patients, examining the safety and efficacy of Immutep’s lead therapy candidate, eftilagimod alpha (known as efti or IMP321), when given in combination with Merck’s blockbuster immunotherapy drug, Keytruda.The study will compare the combination of drugs, with the effectiveness of Keytruda on its own.
Speaking to The Australian Financial Review, Immutep CEO Marc Voigt said efti was the company’s flagship therapy candidate.“It’s very safe, with the most common side effect being injection-site reactions like redness and swelling,” he said.“Looking at historical comparisons with Keytruda, Keytruda plus efti doubled the patient response rate.”Data published in November from Immutep’s first partnership with Merck indicated there was an overall objective response rate for patients with non-small-cell lung carcinoma of 36.1 per cent, with 5.6 per cent of patients in the trial having a “complete response”, meaning the treatment destroyed the tumour.
Rebranding The company also has work under way in metastatic breast cancer.Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is the sixth most common cancer by incidence worldwide, with 890,000 new cases and 450,000 deaths reported in 2018, according to global online cancer database GLOBOCAN.Immutep, which is dual-listed on the NASDAQ, is the result of the locally listed Prima BioMed acquiring French biopharmaceutical company Immutep SA in 2014 and subsequently rebranding.Immutep’s Frédéric Triebel is considered a leader in the field of immunotherapy and was responsible for developing the company’s drug candidate, which targets the LAG-3 checkpoint that regulates the activation, proliferation and function of the body’s T cells.Professor Triebel stayed on with the merged entity as the chief medical officer and chief scientific officer after the acquisition.
Unmet need Australian Ethical head of domestic equities Mike Murray said he was most excited about Immutep’s trials combining immunotherapy drugs, such as this one with Merck.“There’s an unmet need and they have the ability, if you can replicate the data they’ve seen so far, to have an impact in the space,” he said.Australian Ethical first bought into Immutep several years ago and has participated in its capital raisings.Mr Murray was confident the company could be an acquisition target for one of the big global biotech companies in the future, thanks to its relationships with the likes of Merck.He also said there was interest broadly in the LAG-3 immune checkpoint Immutep is targeting.“There’s several companies exploring LAG-3... Even if one of the other active companies in this space gets an interesting signal, that’s a good thing for Immutep and there might be global interest in these assets.”In the last six months, Immutep’s share price has gone from 22¢ to 37¢ on Tuesday, having traded as high as 63¢ in December.In November, Immutep raised almost $30 million and Mr Voigt said its current cash reserves would carry it through to the end of calendar year 2022.Mr Voigt said the company would likely still be a few years away from having a therapy on the market, but he said the business was more advanced than many other emerging biotechs.“We’re going into the last third of our journey,” he said.
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IMM Price at posting:
37.0¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
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