HC Wainwright Believes Ayala's Initial Cancer Data Is Encouraging

Ayala Pharmaceuticals Inc AYALA reported data from Part A of its Phase 2 (RINGSIDE) trial evaluating AL102 in patients with desmoid tumors on Tuesday.
At 16 weeks, one of 13 patients treated with AL102 demonstrated an unconfirmed partial response, which HC Wainwright believes signals encouraging initial activity.
HC Wainwright reiterated the Buy rating on the stock with a price target of $18.
The analyst says that Ayala's initial data is encouraging in the context of the clinical development landscape.
Competitor SpringWorks Therapeutics Inc's SWTX nirogacestat hadn't yet shown any responses during the 16-week timeframe.
HC Wainwright awaits data on
- Disease control rate (DCR), as nirogacestat has shown 100% DCR in the Phase 2 trial on desmoid tumors.
- Longer-term data for AL102 benchmarked to the 29% (5/17) responses observed by approximately 28 months in SpringWorks' Phase 2 trial.
- Median progression-free survival as SpringWorks Phase 3 trial demonstrated a 71% reduction in the risk of progression vs. placebo.
- Breakdown in patients treated by each of three dose levels could add context to Ayala's unconfirmed response.
Price Action: AYLA shares are up 8.25% at $1.18 during the market session on the last check Wednesday.