Why Infinity Pharmaceuticals Shares Are Surging

By Chris Lange Updated Jan 12, 7:15AM EST · Published Oct 12, 10:45AM EDT

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

Why Infinity Pharmaceuticals Shares Are Surging — © Thinkstock

Infinity Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: INFI) saw its shares almost double early on Thursday after the company announced that an abstract from its ongoing clinical trial of IPI-549 had been selected as a late-breaking presentation at the 2017 Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Annual Meeting. The presentation will take place in National Harbor, Maryland, on November 10 to 12.

Additionally, a clinical trials in progress poster will also be presented on the Phase 1/1b clinical study that is ongoing to explore the safety and activity of IPI-549, both as a monotherapy and in combination with Opdivo (nivolumab) in patients with advanced solid tumors. IPI-549 is believed to be the only PI3K-gamma inhibitor in clinical development.

The four-part study includes monotherapy and combination dose-escalation components, along with monotherapy expansion and combination expansion components. Patient enrollment is complete in monotherapy dose-escalation, and monotherapy expansion is ongoing. Combination dose-escalation is also ongoing, and combination expansion is expected to begin in the second half of 2017.

[nativounit]

The combination expansion component includes multiple cohorts designed to evaluate IPI-549 in patients with specific types of cancer, including patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), melanoma and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). This combination expansion will also include a cohort of patients with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC).

It’s worth pointing out that NSCLC, melanoma, HNSCC and TNBC account for more than 22% of all new cancer cases in the United States.

Excluding Thursday’s move, Infinity Pharma has outperformed the U.S. broad markets, with the stock up about 24% year to date. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock is up only about 14%.

Shares of Infinity Pharma were last seen up over 80% at $3.05, with a consensus analyst price target of $1.50 and a 52-week range of $0.84 to $3.84.

[wallst_email_signup]

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.