Clinical trials have the potential to make or break companies, sometimes even bring them back to life. In the case of Exelixis Inc. (NASDAQ: EXEL), its most recent clinical trial results may have put it back on the map for a potential buyout.

The company announced positive top-line results from its primary analysis of METEOR, the Phase 3 pivotal trial comparing cabozantinib to everolimus in 658 patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). These patients have experienced disease progression following treatment with a VEGF receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor.

Cabozantinib reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 42% compared to the everolimus.

For a little background, American Cancer Society’s 2015 statistics cite kidney cancer as among the top 10 most commonly diagnosed forms of cancer among both men and women in the United States.

Michael M. Morrissey, Ph.D., president and CEO, said:

The positive top-line results from METEOR represent strong progress for the kidney cancer community and for Exelixis, bringing us one step closer to our shared goal of delivering a new and meaningfully differentiated therapeutic option for the many metastatic RCC patients in need. With these data now in hand, Exelixis’ highest corporate priority becomes the submission of U.S. and EU regulatory filings, which we intend to complete in early 2016.

The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $2.50, which after this trial is likely to be updated.

Looking at the chart, the stock has not been above the $5 mark since the spring of 2014. Practically, this means that any investor who bought after then and held until now is profitable.

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Stifel called for Exelixis to be a buyout target back in 2014, when it was being looked at in combination of a Roche product as a treatment for melanoma. This news about RCC could potentially put Exelixis back on the table as a buyout target to perhaps some larger pharma company.

Short interest for the company has stayed relatively within a range of 47.0 million to 53.0 million. For the most recent settlement date on June 30, Exelixis saw its short interest decrease to 49.3 million from the previous level of 53.4 million.

Shares of Exelixis were up almost 90% just after Monday’s opening bell, hitting a new 52-week high of $5.96. The 52-week low is $1.26.

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