A Peek Into The Future For Mirati Therapeutics

Loading...
Loading...
Citigroup in a note released Monday, delved into the roadmap for
Mirati Therapeutics, Inc. MRTX
. The firm feels the response for its targeted agent sitravatinib in CBL-mutated non-small cell lung cancer patients puts the company back on targeted therapy map.

CBL is a ubiquitin E3 ligase involved in negatively regulating the signaling of multiple kinases. The firm noted that sitravatinib has pan-kinase activity, which is very important to its effectiveness.

The firm has a Buy rating on the shares of the company, and it raised its price target for the shares from $8 to $16.

Very Low Testing Population Not A Concern

Analyst Yigal Nochomovitz noted that Mirati reported in a poster at the IASLC'17 Chicago Symposium in Thoracic Oncology meeting on Sept.15 that one NSCLC patient with CBL mutation had responded very well to the targeted agent sitravatinib. The analyst indicated at least in pre-clinical work, the agent showed activity against CBL pathway mutations.

Therefore, the analyst said the pre-clinical thesis has now been verified in preliminary clinical work, although the sample population was merely 1 (N=1). That said, the analyst pointed out that historically, deep responses driven by targeted therapy, even with very, very low N tend to translate with higher than average probability to continued deep and prolonged responses with more points.

A case in point is Loxo Oncology Inc LOXO's larotrectinib, the firm noted.

See also: Attention Biotech Investors: September Ushers In Another Slew Of PDUFA Catalysts

Friday's Stock Reaction Not Excessive

Therefore, Citigroup believes Mirati hasn't reacted nearly enough to the CBL data, despite ending Friday's session with an enterprise value of $200 million compared to the $25 million enterprise value at the open.

Loading...
Loading...

The firm now expects peak sitravatinib revenues of $300 million in NSCLC with CBL mutations in 2028. Therefore, the firm said its price target for Mirati shares moved up by about 50 percent.

"With more CBL data we may have enough rationale to expand our CBL model to additional tumor types, similar to how we had evolved our views on LOXO's larotrectinib," the firm said.

Data Disclosure Path

Citi also presented the data disclosure path for the next 12 months, which it gleaned from its discussions with the management last Friday.

  • Additional data on the Nivo + sitravatinib combination study to be released in an oral session at the World Conference on Lung Cancer in Japan at 11 a.m. JST on Oct. 16 (10 a.m. EST on Oct. 15).
  • Interim data for about 34 patients expected to be presented in mid-2018.
  • The company expects to have a sufficient number of patients ( about 10) enrolled in the CBL trial treated for a meaningful length of time (minimum 2 cycles of therapy) in order to report interim data in mid-2018.
Related Link: Sage Therapeutics Could Still Become A Leader In Neurology
Loading...
Loading...
Posted In: Analyst ColorBiotechLong IdeasPrice TargetReiterationAnalyst RatingsTrading IdeasGeneralCitigroupYigal Nochomovitz
We simplify the market for smarter investing

Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.

Join Now: Free!

Loading...