HC Wainwright has upgraded Oncternal Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ONCT) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $2.

At the European Hematology Association meeting earlier this year, Oncternal unveiled initial findings from preclinical investigations that assessed T cells and natural killer (NK) cells expressing the company's ROR1 CAR, featuring the antigen-binding segment of zilovertamab.

NK92 cells engineered with the anti-ROR1 CAR exhibited degranulation when exposed to ROR1+ cancer cells in vitro.

Furthermore, anti-ROR1 CAR T cells displayed statistically significant anti-tumor activity against the rapidly proliferating mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) line known as JeKo-1 in vivo. 

Although cancer cell growth rebounded in mice treated with the lowest dose, both the intermediate and high doses of anti-ROR1 CAR-T cells effectively maintained the cancer cell burden at a low level. These results are particularly noteworthy when considering the efficacy outcomes observed with zilovertamab vedotin and the preclinical data for ONCT-808.

During the 2023 annual American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, Merck & Co Inc (NYSE:MRK) presented initial results from the Phase 2 waveLINE-004 trial of zilovertamab vedotin (MK-2140)—a ROR1-targeted ADC that Merck acquired for approximately $2.8B in 2020 through its purchase of VelosBio—in r/r DLBCL patients who progressed after or were ineligible for autologous stem cell therapy.

Zilovertamab vedotin achieved a 30% ORR (10% CR) in 20 efficacy-evaluable patients; this is relatively in line with the 29% ORR that zilovertamab vedotin demonstrated in r/r DLBCL patients (n=17) in the Phase 1 waveLINE-001 trial.

The analysts Raghuram Selvaraju and Robert Burns write that the waveLINE-004 results set the benchmark that ONCT-808 must meaningfully surpass.

Price Action: ONCT shares are down 3.11% at $0.34 on the last check Monday.