What happened
Shares of Ambrx Biopharma(NYSE: AMAM) were up 18.8% for the week after climbing as high as 25.4% for the week, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The clinical-stage biotech stock closed at $11.64 last week, then rose to as high as $14.60 on Thursday. The stock is up more than 506% so far this year.
So what
Ambrx uses an expanded genetic code technology platform to find antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) and other engineered therapies to modulate the immune system to fight cancer. CEO Daniel O'Connor presented details of his company's clinical programs at the JMP Securities Life Sciences Conference on Tuesday and the RBC Capital Markets Global Healthcare Conference on Wednesday, both of which were in New York. His presentations focused on the company's lead candidates, ARX788 and ARX517.
ARX788 is an ADC that is in a phase 2 trial in the U.S. to treat HER2-positive locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer. The therapy, which Ambrx is partnering with NovoCodex on, is also seen as a potential therapy for gastric cancer and other solid tumor cancers. It recently did well in a phase 3 trial to treat breast cancer in China.
ARX517 is an ADC that targets the prostate-specific membrane antigen to fight prostate cancer and is in a phase 1 trial.
Now what
Like any clinical-stage company, there is potential and risk with Ambrx. The potential is that both therapies involve large patient groups, with breast cancer being the most common form of cancer, outside of skin cancer, to affect women and prostate cancer being the most common form of cancer for men, other than skin cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, about 297,790 new cases of invasive breast cancer and about 288,300 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in the U.S. this year. As of March 31, the company had $166.3 million in cash and cash equivalents, enough, it said, to fund operations for another year.
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