Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals is also developing a STING agonist candidate, SB 11285; an immunotherapeutic for selected cancers. In July of this year, the firm announced it has filed an IND application to the FDA. The time has come for it to initiate Phase 1 trial with its intravenous SB 11285 to evaluate the safety, tolerability and initial anti-tumor activity in patients with advanced solid tumors. The company anticipates enrolling patients in this trial with a plan to report top-line results in mid-2020.

Jason Luke, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of the Cancer Immunotherapies Center at the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, said, “STING agonists have the potential to become an important immunotherapeutic approach for the treatment of multiple cancers. The availability of an intravenously-administered STING agonist could significantly expand the number of cancers and patients in which such an immunotherapeutic agent could be utilized. Importantly, this approach may be able to overcome the need for intra-tumoral administration observed with the first-generation STING agonist approaches.” 

• Part 1 of the SB 11285 IV Phase 1 trial is a dose-escalation study with monotherapy followed by combination with a checkpoint inhibitor. The trial is designed to determine a recommended phase 2 dose.
• Part 2 of the trial will explore SB 11285 in combination with a checkpoint inhibitor in selected responsive tumor types based on initial anti-tumor activity. The trial will be conducted at multiple sites in the United States.

Martin Driscoll, President and Chief Executive Officer of Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals said, “The filing of the SB 11285 IND application represents another significant achievement for Spring Bank in 2019. Based on the progress our company has made with the continued advancement of our internally developed assets, including our HBV and immuno-oncology programs, we believe the company’s stock is currently undervalued and does not adequately reflect the company’s differentiated approach to the significant unmet needs in HBV and oncology. We have the financial resources to allow us to advance our clinical programs toward several meaningful value inflection points. Our clinical development programs have the potential to deliver multiple catalysts for our company over the next 3-15 months. We believe that progressing these programs and delivering promising clinical data is the best way to create long-term value for shareholders, and we are focused on achieving those objectives.” 

SB 11285 STING

SB 11285 STING agonist is a second-generation immunotherapeutic agent for the treatment of selected cancers. In vitro in multiple tumor-derived cell lines. SB 11285 has been observed to cause the induction of cytokines consistent with the engagement of the target.

In vivo, preclinical studies with SB 11285 have led to inhibition of tumor growth as well as recruitment of key immune cell types in multiple rodent tumor models when administered intravenously or intratumorally.

These findings indicate that SB 11285 has the potential to be administered clinically by either route of administration.  

For more information please visit www.springbankpharm.com.

Prohost Observations 

Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals is a small development-stage biopharmaceutical company yet its proprietary small molecule nucleotide platform enables it to discover and develop new entity molecules designed to selectively target and modulate the activity of specific proteins implicated in various diseases.    

Inarigivir activates retinoic acid-inducible gene 1 (RIG-I) in liver cells, leading to the inhibition of HBV replication and inducing intracellular interferon signaling pathways for antiviral defense. .

If the results of the ongoing clinical trial evaluating the safety, the efficacy and the pharmacodynamics of the escalating high doses of inarigivir (200mg and 400mg) + Vemlidy® meet the trial endpoints not only will Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals’ stock fly sky-high, but Gilead’s stock will also rally. The results are expected in 2020.

Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals stock closed on Wednesday at $2.90 with a market cap of $47.73 million. 

Gilead closed at $66.58. UP $0.72. The GILD gain was not based on the news from Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals but based on all its own recent good news and activities which predict a potential increase in its revenues and income.

Among the important news for Gilead is the product filgotinib’s confirmation of safety, tolerability, and efficacy in the Phase 3 trial for rheumatoid arthritis. The drug results and projections also reveal that the collaboration between Gilead and Galapagos NV (GLPG) has already proven its fruitfulness. Filgotinoib, we believe, will be approved in 2020 for moderately-to-severely active rheumatoid arthritis especially in patients who are not benefiting from current treatments.  

Recently, Gilead’s stock has started to move away from the zone of the undervalued firms to that of the properly valued firms.  

To read more about these firms please run a search from our website by clicking here.