Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Mustang (MBIO) Up 9% on Rare Blood Cancer Study's Upbeat Data

Read MoreHide Full Article

Shares of Mustang Bio (MBIO - Free Report) were up 9.2% on Jun 12 after management announced updated results from a cohort of an ongoing single-institution phase I/II study evaluating its lead clinical candidate MB-106 in patients with Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia (“WM”), a rare form of blood cancer.

Data from the study showed that treatment with MB-106 exhibited a favorable safety and efficacy profile in WM patients, all (n=6) of whom were previously treated with Bruton's tyrosine kinase (“BTK”) inhibitors and their disease continued to progress while on BTK inhibitors.

Per management, participants treated with MB-106 achieved an overall response rate (“ORR”) of 83%, including two complete responses (“CR”). One of the patients who achieved CR remains in remission at 22 months. Also, none of the patients started treatment with an additional anti-WM treatment following MB-106 administration.

Mustang Bio’s stock has risen 20.7% in the past year against the industry‘s 7.8% decline.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

A CD20-targeted autologous CAR T cell therapy, MB-106, is being developed in the above-mentioned phase I/II study to treat patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas (“B-NHLs”) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (“CLL”). This study is being sponsored by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center (“Fred Hutch”), Mustang’s research collaborator. MB-106 was licensed by Fred Hutch to Mustang in 2017.

Currently, there are no FDA-approved CAR T treatments in WM indication. Mustang believes that MB-106 has the potential to address a significant unmet need. The FDA has granted orphan drug designation to MB-106 in WM indication based on data from a company-sponsored phase I/II multicenter study evaluating MB-106 in patients with relapsed or refractory B-Cell NHL or CLL.

A popular drug approved in WM indication is Imbruvica, which is jointly marketed by pharma giants J&J (JNJ - Free Report) and AbbVie (ABBV - Free Report) . The AbbVie-J&J partnered drug was the first FDA-approved therapy in WM indication. A BTK inhibitor, AbbVie/J&J’s Imbruvica is also approved by the FDA in CLL and small lymphocytic lymphoma (“SLL”) indications.

ABBV and J&J co-exclusively market Imbruvica in the United States. However, J&J has an exclusive license to market the drug outside the United States and shares profits from the drug’s ex-U.S. sales with AbbVie.

 

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Mustang Bio currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Another better-ranked stock in the overall healthcare sector is Novartis (NVS - Free Report) , which carries the same rank as that of MBIO.

In the past 60 days, estimates for Novartis’ 2023 and 2024 earnings per share have increased from $6.57 to $6.72 and $7.08 to $7.26, respectively. Shares of Novartis are up 10.2% in the year-to-date period.

Earnings of Novartis beat estimates in each of the last four quarters, witnessing an average earnings surprise of 5.15%. In the last reported quarter, Novartis’ earnings beat estimates by 10.32%.


Zacks' 7 Best Strong Buy Stocks (New Research Report)


Valued at $99, click below to receive our just-released report
predicting the 7 stocks that will soar highest in the coming month.


Click Here, It's Really Free

Published in