Janux Therapeutics unveiled promising results for a prostate cancer treatment on Tuesday. The biotech stock more than tripled, hitting a record high.
The company is testing multiple dosing regimens in patients with metastatic prostate cancer. This is a hard-to-treat group of patients who have had a median of four previous treatments.
In one dosing group, 83% of patients saw their PSA levels decline by 50% following treatment with Janux's drug. PSA, or prostate-specific antigen, is a key marker in determining the presence of prostate cancer. In another dosing group, 56% of patients hit the same mark.
Notably, there were no serious incidents of cytokine release syndrome, or CRS. This condition is an acute, but often temporary and treatable, immune system response that occurs with certain cancer treatments.
"We see significant opportunity for (Janux's drug) JANX007 given its compelling profile, potential best-in-class (effectiveness) and favorable safety profile vs. other targeted agents in development for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer," Wedbush analyst Robert Driscoll said in a note to clients.
On today's stock market, Janux stock soared 229.5% to 49.75. That's more than triple the biotech stock's 15.10 closing price on Monday.
Biotech Stock Flies On Cancer Treatment Update
Janux also reported early-stage test results for another drug, called JANX008, in patients with cancer in the colon, head and neck, lungs and kidneys.
One patient with non-small cell lung cancer experienced a partial response, with every tumor in the lungs shrinking. Further, cancer that spread to the liver disappeared. The patient continued responding to the treatment through 18 weeks, Janux said in a news release.
William Blair analyst Matt Phipps reiterated his outperform rating on the biotech stock.
"While shares of Janux have materially appreciated since the company announced the planned release of this clinical update, we believe the validation of Janux's unique T-cell engager platform is a meaningful inflection point for the company," he said in a report.
Janux stock hit a record high, shooting farther above its key moving averages, MarketSmith.com data shows. Shares have a strong Relative Strength Rating of 89, according to IBD Digital. This puts the biotech stock among the top 11% of all stocks in terms of 12-month performance.
More to follow.
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