Kite Pharma Surges on Positive Lymphoma Study of Only 13 Patients

By Chris Lange Published Aug 26, 10:50AM EDT

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Kite Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: KITE) made a big hit in the after-hours market on Monday with its announcement that it has had positive results in a clinical trial regarding the treatment of aggressive non-Hodgkins lymphoma. While this is great news, we would caution readers that this is based solely on results from 13 evaluable patients. This means it will likely be a long time before we have broader data supporting the news.

The results posted showed that 12 of the evaluable 13 patients in the trial had complete or partial remissions. Out of the seven evaluable patients with chemotherapy-refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, four achieved complete remission while three are ongoing.

Basically, Kite developed a drug that modifies the user’s T cells (white blood cells) to specifically target the proteins found in the cell surface of B cell lymphoma and leukemia. In the case of Kite, this clinical trial will result in the filing of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application in the fourth quarter of 2014. By filing in the fourth quarter, the company plans to initiate a new larger clinical trial that would take place in the first half of 2015.

We have acknowledged before the volatile nature of biotech companies pending clinical trials and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approvals. That is the case here as well, and we would remind readers again that the news is only on 13 evaluable patients.

Kite just came public at the end of June at a price of $17 per share. The share price rose as high as $32.14 in June. Subsequently, the company made a steady fall to the range of $21 to $23, where it has stayed until news of this clinical survey was released. After the breakthrough announcement on Monday, we saw the shares trading up more than 28% to as high as $28.69 in the after-hours trading session — and Nasdaq showed prints higher than that. While Kite traded as high as $28.00 on Tuesday morning, the share price was $26.00 after an hour of trading — still up 16% on the day. The consensus analyst price target is $33.33, and the stock has a 52-week range of $21.00 to $32.65.

About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.