BTIG lowered its price target for IMV (NASDAQ, TSX:IMV) to $5 from $8, citing uncertainty about data from the company’s ongoing Phase 2 study of DPX-Survivac in patients with advanced recurrent ovarian cancer. The stock closed at $2.41 on Feb. 27, down from $4.78 on Feb. 24.
IMV is focused on developing lipid nanoparticles containing DPX technology, which has the capability of generating sustained T-cell response against cancer.
Analyst Thomas Shrader writes that shares of IMV have suffered since IMV released DPX-Survivac monotherapy data with a 21% objective response rate (ORR) in patients with essentially no treatment choices or about two times the expected ORR of chemotherapy.
“That being said, the trial also treated patients with low-dose oral cyclophosphamide and it’s now pretty clear the contribution of this classic ‘inhibitor of suppressive immune cells’ to anti-tumor efficacy in ovarian cancer is not clear at all,” he added.
“What we like most about IMV is the DPX platform that generates large, long-term T-cell responses to tumor associated antigens, with the lead program being an interesting first application,” Mr. Shrader said.
However, revelations at the company’s analyst day “certainly add risk to the story, and we are increasing our discount rate from 15% to 20% and reducing our price target to $5,” he added.
