What happened
Shares of Leap Therapeutics (LPTX -3.95%), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, are surging in response to positive clinical results from a stomach cancer study. Investors excited about the company's lead candidate, DKN-1, drove the stock 10.3% higher as of 12:55 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
So what
Last September, Leap Therapeutics stock more than doubled overnight after the company reported impressive response rate data for its lead candidate DKN-1 plus tislelizumab from BeiGene (BGNE 5.25%). The experimental combination treatment was tested among patients newly diagnosed with advanced-stage stomach cancer.
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Getting tumors to shrink isn't nearly as important as preventing them from getting bigger. Leap Therapeutics stock is rising today because the company was able to report impressive progression-free survival results from a phase 2 study. A majority of patients given the combination treatment survived at least 10.7 months without their disease worsening.
Now what
Tislelizumab is an immunotherapy that's already approved in China to treat five different forms of cancer, and an application to treat esophageal cancer in the U.S. is currently under review by the FDA. Tislelizumab and drugs like it can be highly effective, but most patients don't respond at all. If adding DKN-1 truly helps boost response rates, Leap Therapeutics stock could shoot a whole lot higher.
We'll learn a little more about DKN-1 when the company presents the results in a conference call scheduled for Friday, Jan. 21. Before jumping to any conclusions about DKN-1's efficacy, it's important to remember there wasn't a control group in the last trial.
Before starting a long position, it's probably a good idea to wait and see how BeiGene reacts. The partners still haven't initiated a study to make sure tislelizumab isn't doing all the work.
