Stifel upgraded Black Diamond Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BDTX) to “buy” from “hold” and raised its price target to $10 from $2 after the company reported initial dose escalation data demonstrating anti-tumor activity of BDTX-1535 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients across multiple epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation families.
Shares of Black Diamond closed at $5.02 on June 29 after jumping $4.34 earlier this week on the Phase 1 update.
Analyst Bradley Canino writes that BDTX-1535 is a potent, selective, brain penetrant and irreversible inhibitor of certain EGFR mutations that present two opportunities in glioblastoma multiforme, and intrinsic and acquired resistance EGFR mutations in NSCLC.
In the Phase 1 update, BDTX-1535 produced “broad anti-tumor activity across multiple mutations in EGFRm NSCLC, and did so in the difficult-to-treat post-Tagrisso setting,” Mr. Canino said. Tagrisso is a targeted therapy medication used to treat EGFR NSCLC.
“We now see the company as having two simultaneous shots on goal at regulatory paths for ‘intrinsic’ and ‘acquired’ mutations in EGFRm NSCLC, representing about 5,000 or more U.S. patients,” he added.
He expects data updates in 2024 from “dose expansion cohorts to confirm, based on objective response rate and duration of response results, that these market opportunities have a viable regulatory path.”
