What happened
Shares of Gracell Biotechnologies (GRCL) were up by more than 16% as of 2 p.m. on Monday after the clinical-stage biotech company announced a private stock placement of $150 million dollars. The company is scheduled to report second-quarter earnings on Aug. 14. The stock is up more than 75% this year.
So what
The Chinese company focuses on autologous and allogeneic cell therapies to treat cancer and autoimmune disorders. The healthcare company announced on Monday that a private group of investors had agreed to finance the company $100 million up front, plus an additional $50 million tied to the exercise of warrants.
This was good news for two reasons for investors. The financing extends the company's cash situation, allowing it to fund operations into the second half of 2026. Prior to the announcement, the company said it only had $186 million in cash as of the end of the first quarter on March 31. It also shows that investors see potential in the company's lead therapy, GC012F. In June, the company said that GC012F showed an 100% overall response rate in a long-term follow-up to treat patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The CAR-T therapy is a CD19 and B-cell maturation antigen.
Now what
The company has 12 programs in its pipeline, but four of them involve GC012F for different indications, including relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and systemic lupus erythematosus, so a lot is riding on the therapy for Gracell. The company also has another CAR-T cell therapy, GC007g, which is in a phase 2 trial in China to treat relapsed/refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and other therapies in preclinical studies.
