Actinium Pharmaceuticals has lofty ambitions to change the landscape of leukemia treatment in as little as three years. But ATNM stock cratered this week on final-phase test results.
Chief Executive Sandesh Seth says the negative stock move has little to do with the clinical data. He says Actinium stock likely fell on a combination of factors, including profit-taking from retail investors and unfulfilled expectations that Actinium would follow the positive data with a transaction to raise money.
Over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday, ATNM stock plummeted 37%.
But the results showed promise for patients with acute myeloid leukemia, or AML, Seth told Investor's Business Daily. The company now plans to file for approval in the second half of the year.
"I think the prospects for this company are very bright," he said. "The second drug is also a therapeutic for AML. So, really, our goal is to transform the treatment of AML in three to five years. That's a very compelling story people need to understand as they start to look at us."
ATNM Stock Dives After Data Release
This week had ATNM stock on a yo-yo. The two-day dive on Tuesday and Wednesday sent shares below their 50-day moving average, according to MarketSmith.com. On Thursday, shares bounded 11% higher, only to fall 4.7% to close at 9.26 on today's stock market.
Acute myeloid leukemia is a type of cancer that attacks the bone marrow. The only cure is a bone marrow transplant. But in order to receive a transplant, patients must be in remission and healthy enough to withstand the drugs used to destroy their diseased bone marrow.
Yet most patients with this disease are older. The average age is 68, Seth says.
"Either they can't get to remission, or they're so beat up by the process of getting into remission that they just are unable to withstand the conditioning regimens that are placed on them to wipe out the bone marrow," he said. "So, they can't get transplanted."
Patients tend to live up to three months after relapsing on multiple treatments, he said. Actinium wants to change that. The company hopes its treatment can be a new option to prepare patients for a bone marrow transplant.
22% Achieve Remission For Six Months
Though you couldn't tell by looking at ATNM stock, the Phase 3 results were promising, Seth says.
More than one in five — 22% — achieved and stayed in remission for six months. Of those patients, 92% lived to a year and nearly 60% lived for two years.
Importantly, none of these patients received a follow-up treatment, known as a maintenance therapy. That's part of the Food and Drug Administration's requirements for the study, Seth said. But, in the real world, patients would likely receive maintenance drugs to fend off the chance of relapsing.
"That two-year survival, in this population, is basically called a second birthday," he said. "Because if you make it to two years, you're basically cured."
There was one complication that may have tripped up ATNM stock investors. Overall survival was 6.4 months vs. 3.2 months for the control group. Patients in the control group received one of more than 20 therapies available for AML treatment.
Overall survival is a measurement of how long patients survived before dying of any cause. But overall survival can be muddled in cancer studies like Actinium's. Researchers must offer worsening patients a chance to receive the experimental drug. The crossover patients muddle the result, Seth says.
ATNM Stock Has A High Rating
In addition to Iomab-B, Actinium is working on a second treatment for acute myeloid leukemia. The first treatment in testing doesn't have any direct competitors seeking the same target in the body. The second drug would be complementary to other treatments, Seth said.
Over time, ATNM stock will normalize, he said.
Today, "it's not where it should be, in my view," he said.
Still, ATNM stock remains among elite company. Shares have a strong Relative Strength Rating of 96 out of a best-possible 99, according to IBD Digital. This puts them in the top 4% of all stocks when it comes to 12-month performance.
Follow Allison Gatlin on Twitter at @IBD_AGatlin.
