There were a ton of major biotech movers on Monday’s markets, with some stocks almost tripling following after getting bought out by private companies. For traders looking to follow the news, however, perhaps the most interesting biotech stock on Monday was Fate Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FATE). A $1.5 billion biotech early-stage biotech stock, Fate impressed the markets by reporting its first set of data on its novel cancer treatments.
Investors might not have heard of Fate Therapeutics before this announcement as the company has stayed relatively out of the limelight until now. This is understandable since the company has been working to develop new approaches to tackling cancer but have yet to provide any data to investors, until today that is. Fate Therapeutics presented the results for its new drug candidates, FT516, FT500, and FT596, at a meeting of major medical professionals. These drugs differ from normal cancer treatments, which rely on T cells, and instead are based on natural killer cells (or just NK cells) within the body.
“Current patient- and donor-specific CAR T-cell immunotherapies recognize only one antigen and fail to address the significant risk of relapse due to antigen escape. FT596 is ground-breaking in that it is designed to be available off-the-shelf for timely patient access and to promote deeper and more durable responses by targeting multiple tumor-associated antigens,” said Bob Valamehr, Chief Development Officer in an official statement. “Additionally, since FT596 is manufactured from a renewable master engineered iPSC line, the complexities of patient-by-patient genetic engineering and production are greatly reduced and, for the first time, we are able to mass produce multi-functional cellular immunotherapies in a uniform and cost-effective manner.”
Long story short, Fate reported that one of its candidates, FT516, completely wiped out any traces of cancer from the bodies of their patients, an impressive result. On the other hand, the first 12 cancer patients that tested FT500 showed no signs that the body was rejecting the treatment, something which can be a major problem for some cancer treatments. FT596 is currently being tested on mice but has shown some promising results as well, with the first human trials expected sometime early 2020.
In response to the news, shares of the company shot up by over 41% on Monday. While still a couple dollars shy from hitting a new 2019 high, the stock for the most part has been doing well. This is especially true over the past five-year period, with Fate almost quintupling since 2014. Traders and investors alike should keep an eye out for this company and its future announcements, particularly when Fate Therapeutics is scheduled to announce further clinical updates.
Fate Therapeutics Company Profile
Fate Therapeutics Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company based in the United States. It is engaged in the development of programmed cellular immunotherapies for cancer and immune disorders. The company’s cell therapy pipeline is comprised of NK- and T-cell immuno-oncology programs, including off-the-shelf engineered product candidates derived from clonal master iPSC lines, and immuno-regulatory programs, including product candidates to prevent life-threatening complications in patients. – Warrior Trading News
