CRISPR (CRSP) Falls Despite Positive Data on Lymphoma Study
CRISPR Therapeutics AG CRSP announced top-line data from an early-stage study, which is evaluating several dose levels of its allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) cell therapy CTX110 for treating relapse/refractory CD19+ B-cell malignancies.
The phase I CARBON study was evaluating the safety and efficacy of CTX110 for the treatment of relapsed/refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma in adult patients, having received at least two prior lines of therapy. The primary endpoints of the study were to check the safety as measured by the incidence of dose limiting toxicities (DLTs) and the overall response rate. Meanwhile, the secondary endpoints include duration of response, progression-free survival and overall survival.
Data from the study showed that patients who received the dose level 2 (DL2) of CTX110 achieved a complete response (CR) of 33% while those who were administered with DL3 of CTX110 experienced a CR of 50%.
Meanwhile, the patient who received the highest dose — DL4 of CTX110 — achieved a complete response. However, the same person died after 52 days of CTX110 infusion, apparently due to unrelated complications.
This patient’s death hurt investors’ sentiment, overshadowing the promising data and consequently, the stock took a hit, depreciating 13.6% following the announcement of the news on Wednesday.
Shares of CRISPR Therapeutics have rallied 51.4% so far this year against the industry’s decrease of 2.5%.
Per the company, the early data on CTX110 proves its potential as an effective CAR-T therapy for patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell malignancies.
CRISPR Therapeutics expects additional data readouts for CTX110 as well as its other allogeneic CAR-T candidates, namely CTX120 and CTX130 in 2021.
We note that the company’s lead pipeline candidate is CTX001, an investigational ex vivo CRISPR gene-edited therapy, which is currently being developed in early-to-mid-stage studies for treating transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia (TDT) and sickle cell disease (SCD). CRISPR Therapeutics is co-developing CTX001 in partnership with Vertex Pharmaceuticals VRTX.
Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider
CRISPR Therapeutics currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
Better-ranked stocks in the biotech sector include Allena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ALNA and Eton Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ETON, both carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Allena Pharmaceuticals’ loss per share estimates have narrowed 6.1% for 2020 and 9.7% for 2021 over the past 60 days.
Eton Pharmaceuticals’ loss per share estimates have narrowed 10.2% for 2020 and 2.2% for 2021 over the past 60 days. The stock has rallied 4.8% year to date.
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