Summit Teams Up With Daiichi Sankyo, AstraZeneca For Cancer Therapy Trial – CEO Calls It An ‘Important Expansion’

• Datroway cancer therapy has been commercialized by AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo.
• There are currently 16 Phase 3 studies involving Ivonescimab.
• Earlier this week, AstraZeneca agreed to invest $2 billion in Summit through convertible preferred shares.

Summit Therapeutics (SMMT) was on investors’ radar on Friday after the biotech firm announced a new clinical collaboration with AstraZeneca (AZN) and Daiichi Sankyo to test its cancer therapy across several solid tumors.

SMMT shares were up 1.5% in pre-market trading, heading for their best week in a month.

First Trial On Breast Cancer

The three firms will begin their collaboration with a Phase 3 study of Ivonescimab in combination with Datroway in first-line triple-negative breast cancer. The companies will share trial costs. Datroway has been commercialized by AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo.

Ivonescimab is designed to help the immune system attack cancer while blocking the blood-vessel growth tumors need to survive. Akeso originally developed the drug before Summit licensed it in 2023. Ivonescimab is already approved in China, but remains investigational in the U.S. and Europe.

There are currently 16 Phase 3 studies involving Ivonescimab, with five sponsored globally by Summit, one cooperative-group study, and 10 conducted or sponsored by Akeso in China.

“Beginning with a Phase III study in first-line triple-negative breast cancer, this collaboration represents an important expansion of Summit’s global development program into breast cancer and a path for additional solid tumor settings,” said Maky Zanganeh, President and Co-CEO of Summit Therapeutics.

Summit’s Pipeline Includes Lung, Colorectal And Bladder Cancer Therapies

Summit’s pipeline includes lung-cancer trials HARMONi, HARMONi-3 and HARMONi-7, colorectal-cancer study HARMONi-GI3 and bladder-cancer study HARMONi-GU1.

The biggest near-term regulatory event is Nov. 14, when the FDA is scheduled to decide on ivonescimab plus chemotherapy for certain patients with non-small cell lung cancer after prior targeted therapy. Summit’s application is based on the Phase 3 HARMONi trial.

Summit ended the second quarter (Q2) with $690.7 million in cash and short-term investments and raised more than $68 million this quarter. Earlier this week, AstraZeneca agreed to invest $2 billion in Summit through convertible preferred shares.

On Thursday, Barclays raised Summit’s price target to $20 from $18 while keeping an ‘Equal Weight’ rating. The firm said the next 12 months will largely depend on lung-cancer updates, but cited caution around competition.

Retail Says SMMT’s Setup Has Strong Bullish Conviction

Retail sentiment surrounding SMMT on Stocktwits remained in the ‘extremely bullish’ territory over the past 24 hours, amid ‘extremely high’ message volumes.

One user said SMMT’s current setup shows strong bullish conviction.

The stock is down around 5% this year.

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