Promising New Developments Causing Some Biotech Stocks to Pull Away from Underperforming Peers
Financial News Media - 1 hour ago
FN Media Group Presents USA News Group News Commentary
Vancouver, BC -October 14, 2021 – USA News Group – Compared to the Dow Jones Industrial Average which has gained an impressive 10.6% through Q3 2021, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq doing even better with 14.7% and 12.1% gains respectively, the biotech sector has been lagging behind . The Nasdaq Healthcare Index has only gained 4.2%, while the XBI biotech index has fallen 10.7%, despite continued strong fundamentals. However, amid the sector's challenges, several new developments have emerged, giving well needed fuel to several biotech stocks who have been delievering all types of optimistic results, including those from Oncolytics Biotech Inc. (NASDAQ:ONCY) (TSX:ONC), Sesen Bio Inc. (NASDAQ:SESN), Clarus Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRXT), Orphazyme A/S (NASDAQ:ORPH), and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ).
Most recently, Oncolytics Biotech Inc. (NASDAQ:ONCY) (TSX:ONC), developers of the promising immunotherapeutic agent pelareorep announced that its global clinical-stage biopharmaceutical partners Adlai Nortye had initiated dosing in a bridging clinical trial for patients with advanced or metastatic breast cancer using a therapy of pelareorep combined with paclitaxel--this time for patients in China.
For women in America, breast cancer is known as the second leading cause of death from cancer, with an estimated 42,000 deaths in the US in 2020. However, in China, breast cancer is now estimated to be the largest subtype of cancer among women, with over 416,000 cases and over 117,000 deaths in 2020.
Oncolytics had already conducted randomized phase 2 trials in North America, the first of which, IND-213, showed that treatment with pelareorep and paclitaxel led to a statistically significant increase in overall survival compared to treatment with paclitaxel alone.
Oncolytics’ second randomized phase 2 trial, BRACELET-1, is ongoing and evaluates pelareorep-paclitaxel combination therapy both with and without a checkpoint inhibitor.
Results from this newly initiated bridging trial should allow Adlai Nortye to include data from Oncolytics’ North American metastatic breast cancer trials in a future submission to Chinese regulators.
“ Adlai’s bridging trial is an important step forward for pelareorep’s clinical development path in China, which has a rapidly growing pharmaceutical market that is currently the second-largest in the world,” said Andrew de Guttadauro, President of Oncolytics Biotech U.S. and Global Head of Business Development. “We are very pleased that dosing in the trial has commenced and congratulate our partner on this notable achievement. Looking ahead, we are eager to continue our partnership with Adlai as we work to advance pelareorep towards registration in major global markets.”
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/markets/stocks/ORPH/pressreleases/2624233/