SLS Stock Jumps Overnight: CEO Doubles Down On ‘Steadfast’ Confidence In AML Drug And Pushes For 20M Share Plan Approval

• The CEO reaffirmed confidence in the Phase 3 Regal trial evaluating GPS in AML, despite the study remaining blinded.
• Sellas expects clinical updates and Phase 2 readouts for its CDK9 inhibitor, SLS009, this year.
• BlackRock disclosed a 6.8% stake in the cancer drugmaker on Friday.

Shares of Sellas Life Sciences Group, Inc. (SLS) jumped over 7% overnight late Sunday after its CEO signaled “steadfast” confidence in the company’s lead acute myeloid leukemia (AML) therapy and urged investors to support a proposal to expand its equity incentive plan by 20 million shares.

SLS stock slid about 15% last week, logging its worst weekly performance in nearly four months.

Sellas CEO Signals ‘Steadfast’ Confidence In Regal Trial

CEO Angelos Stergiou said in a LinkedIn post late Sunday that his conviction in the Regal trial’s commercial prospects remains unchanged despite the study still being blinded.

“My conviction in the REGAL trial’s prospects and ultimate commercial potential remains as steadfast today as it was day 1,” he said. The ongoing event-driven Phase 3 Regal study is evaluating GPS in patients whose AML returned but later entered remission after additional therapy. Final analysis of the trial is expected once 80 overall-survival events are recorded, which triggers database lock, statistical analysis and unblinding.

Sellas previously said 72 survival events had been recorded as of Dec. 26, bringing the study closer to the milestone required for topline analysis. Stergiou also said that slower accumulation of survival events in cancer studies can sometimes indicate that patients are living longer than initially expected.

“While strict trial blinding prevents any definitive guarantees before unblinding, my belief in the asset—and the prolonged survival trend we are observing—has not diminished in the slightest,” Stergious said in the post.

GPS targets Wilms Tumor-1 (WT1), a protein commonly found in many cancers and ranked by the National Cancer Institute as a leading immunotherapy target. The treatment uses engineered fragments of WT1 to activate key immune cells that help destroy cancer cells.

SLS009 Updates Expected This Year

Stergiou also pointed to 2026 as an important year for the development of the CDK9 inhibitor SLS009. “Investors should look for clinical updates and top-line data readouts from our ongoing Phase 2 studies this calendar year,” he said.

Recent lab findings presented ahead of a key cancer summit showed that the therapy helped trigger the natural self-destruction process in leukemia cells while reducing proteins that cancer cells rely on to survive. The drug also remained active in hard-to-treat forms of AML linked to ASXL1 and TP53 mutations, which are typically associated with poorer outcomes.

Investor expectations had been building around potential updates from SLS009 last week, leaving the stock in wait-and-watch mode after the anticipated pipeline developments did not immediately land at a cancer summit.

Sellas Seeks Approval To Add 20M Shares

Alongside pipeline updates, Stergiou sought approval to expand the share reserve under its 2023 Amended and Restated Equity Incentive Plan by 20 million shares. The amendment would add more shares to the company’s stock-based compensation pool after Sellas disclosed that only 7,991 shares remained available for future awards under its existing plan as of mid-April.

Approval of the new proposal would allow a previously approved grant of 1.1 million restricted stock units to Stergiou to take effect, while rejection would automatically cancel the award and could require the company to consider alternative compensation arrangements.

As of April 15, Sellas reported 2.64 million stock options and 2.26 million restricted stock units outstanding, with total equity overhang representing about 2.6% of shares outstanding. 

Institutional Participation Builds Ahead Of Catalysts

Institutional participation in the stock has remained active ahead of expected clinical milestones. On Friday, BlackRock disclosed a stake of about 12.1 million shares, representing 6.8% of Sellas’ outstanding common stock.

Data compiled by Quiver Quantitative showed last week that Dagco increased its stake by 78%, bringing its total holdings to 1.03 million shares valued at about $4.35 million as of March 31. The position now represents Dagco’s second-largest disclosed allocation at 1.01% of its portfolio, placing Sellas among its healthcare bets alongside larger pharma companies such as Merck, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Johnson & Johnson.

How Do Retail Traders Feel About SLS?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for SLS has jumped to ‘bullish’ from ‘bearish’ levels over the past week amid ‘high’ message volume.

One user said, “Sterge doing what's best for patients and stockholders. Just sit back and watch warrants and loose shares get gobbled up. At some point Game Over for shorts!!!”

Another user said, “I would at least like to see an IDMC report with event no and a signal to keep going. Not sure how his posts like that are building a shareholder value with so much uncertainty on the direction of the trial.”

SLS stock has surged 233% over the past year. 

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