What happened
Atossa Therapeutics (ATOS +4.99%) got off to a roaring start this week, with its stock closing just over 30% higher on Monday to reach a new one-year peak. The company announced that clinical results for a promising pipeline drug are coming in a matter of days.
So what
Atossa, a clinical-stage biotech that has been popular with investors of late, said it would publish and discuss final data from the phase 2 study of Endoxifen. This is the company's leading pipeline treatment, a drug that is given to breast cancer patients in advance of surgery. The discussion will take place in a webinar this Wednesday at 8 a.m. PDT; it is to be led by company CEO Steven Quay and other top managers.
Image source: Getty Images.
So far, the results of Endoxifen trials disclosed by the company have been very encouraging. In February, Atossa said that the "overwhelmingly positive" results in phase 2 testing in Australia led it to conclude that trial and advance development in the U.S.
Also, a compassionate-use Endoxifen study on one patient spanning over two years showed no recurrence of breast cancer. The drug was well tolerated by the recipient, the company added.
Now what
I should stress that, as ever with biotech stocks, early clinical successes do not guarantee positive results further down the chain. Yet breast cancer is a common disease and effective treatments are sorely needed, so Atossa stock could still have a long runway if Wednesday's news is encouraging.
