Health and Healthcare

Vascular Biogenics Rises on Presentation Hype

Vascular Biogenics Ltd. (NASDAQ: VBLT) ran away with it in the market on Friday afternoon. At the same time, this was one of the leading stocks in the health care sector for the day, following news that the company will present at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO).

The company announced that complete Phase 2 data on VB-111 in combination with bevacizumab (Avastin) will be presented at the ESMO European Cancer Congress 2015, being held on September 25 through 29 in Vienna, Austria.

VB-111 is a novel, intravenously-administered, next generation targeted anti-angiogenic agent that utilizes VBL’s proprietary Vascular Targeting System to target endothelial cells in the tumor vasculature for cancer therapy.

Vascular Biogenics is a late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of first-in-class treatments for cancer. Its lead oncology product candidate, VB-111, is a gene-based biologic that is initially being developed for recurrent glioblastoma, or rGBM, an aggressive form of brain cancer.

Professor Dror Harats, chief executive officer of Vascular Biogenics, said:

We look forward to this opportunity at ECC 2015 to present complete results from this important Phase 2 trial of VB-111 in rGBM. The presentation will include response rates in patients, as well as updated results on overall survival and response rate. We are excited to move forward with development of this first-in-class biologic agent and continue recruiting to our recently launched pivotal Phase 3 study in rGBM.

So far in 2015, Vascular Biogenics has underperformed the market, with shares are down over 9% year to date, as of Thursday’s close.

Shares of Vascular Biogenics were up 32.5% to $7.10 on Friday afternoon. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $14.00 and a post-IPO trading range of $3.09 to $17.02.

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