What happened
Shares of Tyme Technologies (TYME) were skyrocketing 84.9% higher as of 12:09 p.m. EST on Wednesday after rising as much as 174% earlier in the day. This huge gain came after the company announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) had granted another patent related to a COVID-19 treatment using Tyme's metabolomic technology platform.
So what
It's not unusual for clinical-stage biotech stocks like Tyme to go into orbit after good news. But just how good was Tyme's news? The answer lies in how its metabolomic technology works.
Image source: Getty Images.
Most immune therapies and vaccines targeting COVID-19 focus on the external virus coating, especially the spike proteins on the coronavirus surface. That's a good approach, but it's possible that genetic mutations to the virus could make these therapies and vaccines less effective.
Tyme's experimental TYME-19 therapy shouldn't be affected by genetic mutations to the coronavirus coat. TYME-19 could limit viral replication by inhibiting the ability of the coronavirus to produce viral proteins and fatty acids.
Obtaining the U.S. patent for this approach isn't a big deal if TYME-19 proves to be ineffective at preventing COVID-19. However, if Tyme's pipeline candidate is successful, the patent could protect the biotech's intellectual property rights and enable it to make a lot of money in the future.
Now what
Tyme plans to advance TYME-19 into clinical testing soon and release results later this year. It also continues to enroll participants in a pivotal study of SM-88 as a potential third-line treatment for pancreatic cancer. Another potential catalyst could be on the way this year in the form of expected results from a phase 2 study conducted by the Joseph Ahmed Foundation evaluating SM-88 as a maintenance monotherapy in previously treated Ewing's sarcoma (a rare type of bone cancer) and as a salvage monotherapy in clinically advanced sarcomas.
