Roth Capital Partners raised its price target for GlycoMimetics (NASDAQ:GLYC) to $35 from $25 after the company agreed with the Dutch hematological oncology foundation, HOVON, to move towards a 140-patient study of GMI-1271 in combination with decitabine in newly-diagnosed patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) unfit for chemotherapy induction.
Shares of GlycoMimetics were quoted at $22.76 in afternoon trading on Feb. 8.
“We believe that HOVON is likely to be an important clinical ally for GlycoMimetics, both based on its general integration in the European hem/onco arena (the study will run in five countries), but also its proximity to the new EMA headquarters,” writes analyst Dr. Jotin Marango.
Decitabine combo is the thing in the EU, he said, adding that decitabine was approved for unfit adults with AML in the EU in 2012 and remains the front-line hypomethylating agent (HMA) in European unfit AML patients. “To us, the choice of decitabine makes for a clean study, whose data can translate across the Atlantic.”
Dr. Marango said the reason why he likes GMI-1271 in AML and what differentiates it from other experimental programs is that its “efficacy so far has been genotype-agnostic and independent of disease stage and state (based on Phase 2 data). This is unusual in AML, where disease heterogeneity has killed many a program.”
