Mizuho Raises OncoMed Pharma's Price Target To $16

Oncomed Pharmaceuticals Inc OMED will potentially have 9 clinical candidates by 1H17. Mizuho’s Eric Criscuolo reiterated a Buy rating for the company, while raising the price target from $15 to $16. The analyst mentioned that the “pace and significance of data catalysts” are expected to accelerate in 2H16 and into 2017.

ASCO Prospects

Oncomed Pharma would be presenting the first clinical data from the Phase 1b trials of its Wnt pathway inhibitors, vantictumab [breast] and ipafricept [ovarian] at the ASCO.

Analyst Eric Criscuolo expects the company to present safety and biomarker data, especially focused on bone-related safety issues that it had previously addressed. He added, “We also expect to see early efficacy data around response rates and duration, albeit off of small numbers.”

Updated survival data from Oncomed Pharma’s Phase 1b clinical trials of demcizumab in NSCLC and of tarextumab in SCLC is also expected. “The Phase I data appears to show a change in survival trends for patients surviving past 300 days. Further analysis could identify strong responders to the regimen and the drug itself which could be applied to future development,” Criscuolo wrote.

Uptick In Catalysts Into 2017

There could be data from additional Phase Ib trials across Oncomed Pharma’s pipeline in the back-half of 2016. The analyst stated, “However, the rubber really meets the road in 2017 as Phase II, controlled trials begin to read out, including YOSEMITE (demcizumab with gem/Abraxane in 1st line pancreatic) and PINNACLE (tarextumab with etoposide and cisplatin in 1st line SCLC).”

Oncomed Pharma may add another two candidates in the clinic by 2017, which would take its total candidates to 9, which is impressive especially considering the company’s size.