What's Happening At The ASCO Conference?

In a report published Wednesday, H.C. Wainwright analyst Reni Benjamin said that this year’s American Association of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conference, which was held in Chicago from May 29 to June 2, comprised of presentations that "potentially generate shareholder value for select biotechnology companies."

Moreover, several companies reported results, including Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ARIA (Rated Buy), Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. SPPI (Rated Buy) and TG Therapeutics Inc TGTX (Rated Buy).

In the report H.C. Wainwright noted the key takeaways from the ASCO conference as:

• Triple threat to lymphomas: "In an oral presentation, TG Therapeutics provided updated Phase 1 clinical data on the TG-1101 + TGR-1202 + ibrutinib triple combination in relapsed B-cell malignancies. The update included 16 patients who were treated with the triple combination, 13 of which were evaluable for efficacy."

"Consistent with the early data presented at ASH, the triple combination was well tolerated, even in the highest dose (800 mg TGR-1202) cohorts. Most impressively, in the CLL cohort, 100% of patients (4 of 4) achieved an objective response at the first efficacy assessment, and all four responding patients remain on study now over seven months."

"In our opinion, the updated triple combination data showcase highly encouraging activity in heavily pretreated settings and further reinforce the relatively mild safety profile of TGR-1202 combined with ibrutinib and TG-1101," analyst Reni Benjamin said.

• Updated brigatinib safety and efficacy: "Ariad presented updated results from the ongoing Phase 1/2 study of brigatinib in patients with NSCLC, chiefly focusing on 78 evaluable ALK+ patients and provided a safety update on all 137 patients enrolled in the study."

Benjamin commented, "We believe the 71% ORR in the ALK+ patients continues to compare favorably to ceritinib, and in our opinion, the safety profile of brigatinib continues to demonstrate superiority over that of ceritinib, particularly regarding GI and liver toxicity."

• Poziotinib try-out in refractory NSCLC: "Spectrum’s Korean partner Hanmi released results from a Phase 2 trial of the poziotinib (an irreversible inhibitor of HER2) in patients with refractory NSCLC. The compound displayed modest activity in this difficult-to-treat NSCLC patient population; ORR was 8% (3 of 39) and the estimated mPFS was 2.7 months.:

"In our opinion, HER2+ breast cancer may be a better focus indication for poziotinib; Spectrum previously reported that 60% of HER2+ breast cancer patients who received poziotinib achieve PRs, and that some of the breast cancer responders had received up to seven prior lines of therapy," Benjamin mentioned.