Already labeled as a stock to watch for its year-long price increase and powerful pipeline potential, shares of Immunocellular broke through the two dollar mark again on Tuesday after announcing that the company had been granted a key patent to regarding its cancer-fighting technology.
The patent, numbered 7,939,090, was titled “System and method for the treatment of cancer, including cancers of the central nervous system,” according to a press release issued on Tuesday, and "covers the combination of a dendritic cell based vaccine combined either before or concurrently with chemotherapy at the recurrence of the disease."
This was a key patent award for Immuncellular Thereapeutics, as the company entrenches itself as a frontrunner to usher in the next generation of cancer immunotherapies.
As I've discussed in previous publishings, Immunocellular;s technology essentially picks up where the cancer vaccines of today have left off, and targets the stem cells that lead to cancer spreading and growth.
IMUC's lead product candidate, ICT-107, is currently being tested with that technology in a Phase II trial for glioblastoma (GBM) that began earlier this year. Phase I results were highly encouraging and full enrollment for the current trial is expected to be achieved early in 2012, with results rolling out the following year.
As ICT-107 progresses through trials, it's worth highlighting the benefits of this product candidate, and the associated science behind IMUC's "next generation" product candidates.
A good starting point is noting that patients utilizing ICT-107 need only to have their dendritic cells 'harvested' once for the treatment to be processed and manufactured, while patients being treated with Dendreon's Provenge, for instance, need to go through the 'harvesting' procedure up to four times before it's all said and done.
The one-time harvesting process reduces the logistical and manufacturing costs for the company, which translates into better value on the market. It also potentially translates into lower costs for the patient and/or insurance company who picks up the tab, not mention the easing of inconveniences for the patient who will only endure the harvesting process onece.
Tuesday's five percent price jump in the IMUC share price was a show of confidence for the technology behind the latest patent award, but with a market cap of under sixty million, this company may still be undervalued when taking into consideration the future market potential of its pipeline. As the Phase II trial progresses, it's likely that shares will continue to march upwards, and if results turn out as solid as earlier trials, then a move such as the one Keryx (KERX) enjoyed following positive Phase IIs could materialize.
In the meantime, cancer immunotherapies are a hot sector right now, as demonstrated by a very significant Oncothyreon (ONTY) run this year, and IMUC is primed to benefit from any positive developments in the sector.
Regarding Tuesday's patent announcement, which delivers additional credibility to this company as it begins to get noticed on the 'buy' radars outside of just the speculative sector, ImmunoCellular CEO, Dr. Manish Singh said that, “This patent has applicability to multiple types of cancer, including our first clinical target, glioblastoma. ICT-107, the Company’s dendritic cell based vaccine candidate for the treatment of GBM, elicits a cytotoxic tumor reactive response that in combination with chemotherapy might fundamentally alter tumors by priming their death machinery.”
The Immunocellular path to the future is in place, the results - thus far - have been promising, what comes next is enough new investors taking notice and propelling the share price higher. This is something that might be helped out by a move to a larger exchange, something that the company has previously discussed, as there's a core of investors out there that won't touch OTCBB stocks.
The developments continue to come in positive for IMUC, keep it on the radar.
Disclosure: No position.
