Just got off the phone with Eugene Kopp. I got the impression he is quite excited after the overseas trip. It appears that currently there is a lot happening for this company.
Notes below:
Austin Research:
Prima Biomed has exclusive rights to any improvements in the existing licenses for technology derived from Austin Research. This is in addition to the option it holds for rights to any further technology developed at Austin in the next four years. EK said that, while the option is not particularly expensive to exercise, Prima currently has sufficient business on its plate to keep the company busy.
I got the impression that Austin is throwing up a lot of candidate technologies worthy of further research but that Prima needs to remain focused.
Arthron:
3 more patents in the pipeline
May be able to report a deal in the near future on Arthron’s proprietary assays to assist with drug safety and design – a “reputable” company is looking at it.
AstraZeneca to review data from the validation study which will be available by May this year, thereafter AstraZeneca may elect to exercise the option within 60 days - negotiations for exclusivity could take a further 6 months.
Prima is looking at an early exit once a deal is negotiated – may spin out the technology into a separate company.
CancerVac:
There have been some delays in patient recruitment for the phase 2A trial. While recruitment was expected to have been completed by April or May it may now take until October. The problem is not with patients being reluctant to receive the vaccine but has more to do with getting patients to remain in the trial until completion. Ovarian cancer is highly progressive.
EK has just met with BioMira. He reports that BioMira are very excited about MUC1 as an antigen and are very keen to see the interim results from CancerVac's phase 2A cancer trial - though these may not be available this calendar year given the recruitment delays above. Merck has apparently agreed to fund the phase 3 trial for BLP-25, despite the phase 2B trial failure, and is also very enthusiastic about the prospectivity of the MUC1 antigen.
Dendritic Cell vaccines are, according to EK, getting increasing attention as prospective cancer therapies. He mentioned Dendreon, a company with an ex-vivo primed, fusion protein vaccine (Provenge) for prostate cancer as an example of work being done in this field. While Dendreon’s phase 3 trial initially failed to reach statistical significance, the company revealed in January this year that 53 percent of the Provenge patients were still alive at 30 months, compared with 14 percent taking a placebo. This sent the stock soaring from just over a dollar to $15 dollars on heavy volume and allowed the company to raise a further $150m.
Dendreon appears in American Scientific (vaccines being compared to monoclonal antibodies – “Cancer vaccinologists hope their nascent discipline follows the trajectory of monoclonal antibodies, which triumphed after a series of early setbacks.”) see here: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa...4F283414B7F0000
Prima is very pleased to have Medarex as a partner. EK just concluded a meeting with the company which included Medarex’s head of research. They are at present trying to select the right antibodies for animal trials with a view to moving to human trials following these results. The early stage of the technology means it is still very high risk but nevertheless highly prospective for Prima.
PanVax:
EK describes this as a second generation technology that follows on from the work done by CancerVac. Prima is still screening collaborative partners for this technology, has had meetings with the FDA to define trial protocols and is looking to progress the technology to human trials next year. EK said that it is uncertain as to whether they would pursue an IND status or whether they would pursue local registration.
Cash: EK said Prima has sufficient cash for the next 18 months. He sees it as being crucial for the company that it is able to achieve conversion on the outstanding options to ensure funding beyond this point. Exercise of the outstanding options would raise some $11m for the company. To achieve this, it is EK’s goal to get the share price above 20 cents before the second quarter next year at the latest.
Catalysts for the share price:
EK said that the two main catalysts he sees for share price appreciation going forward are the finalization of the recruitment for the CancerVac trial and the potential for an exclusive deal with AstraZeneca over the FC receptor technology.
The above was drawn from rough notes I made during the telephone call. I do not warrant the accuracy of any of it.
Seek advice from a licensed and qualified investment advisor before buying or selling any financial securities.
PRR Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)