Tracon Pharma Shares Rally As First Patient Dosed In Cancer Trial

Shares of the thinly traded nanocap biotech TRACON Pharmaceuticals Inc TCON were rallying Thursday.

What Happened

Tracon, which specializes in novel therapeutics for cancer, said it has dosed the first patient in a U.S. Phase 1 first-in-human clinical trial of I-Mab's proprietary CD73 antibody TJD5, also known as TJ004309, in patients with advanced solid tumors.

TJD5 is from Chinese biopharma stable and it is being co-developed through a corporate collaboration between Tracon and I-Mab that was signed in November 2018.

TJD5 will be dosed in the Phase 1 trial both as a single agent and in combination with Tecentriq, Roche Holdings AG Basel ADR RHHBY's PD-L1 immunotherapy, Tracon said. 

The study will evaluate the safety and tolerability of TJD5 in a bid to finalize the recommended doses for further clinical studies of its efficacy and safety as a single agent and in combination with a standard dose of Tecentriq in patients with advanced or metastatic cancer who are intolerant of all available therapies.

Why It's Important

"We will continue to work with I-Mab to optimize the clinical development of TJD5, an antibody with global best-in-class potential," Tracon CEO Charles Theuer said in a statement.

Incidentally, TRACON had to shelve a late-stage study of a pipeline asset in April, which sent its shares down by about 50% in a single session. The stock hasn't recovered much since then.

Treatment resistance to PD-1/PD-L1 is seen as a challenge for several cancer types. The combination of TJD5 and Tecentriq will provide a novel treatment option to address the unmet medical needs, according to I-Mab.

Tracon shares were trading higher by 8.8% at 48 cents at the time of publication Thursday. 

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