LianBio (LIAN +0.00%) stock is skyrocketing this week. The biotech specialist's share price was up 165.5% from the previous week's market close heading into this Friday's daily trading session, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
LianBio published a press release on Oct. 24 announcing that it had entered into an agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb for the rights to develop and commercialize its mavacamten heart medication in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, and Thailand.
The next day, LianBio also announced that it had presented favorable clinical trial data for its infigratinib drug for locally advanced or metastatic gastric cancer (GC) or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma (GEJ) at this year's European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress.
OTC: LIAN
Key Data Points
A massive deal is powering big gains for LianBio stock
As a result of its deal with Bristol Myers Squibb, LianBio will receive a one-time cash payment of $350 million. The company's previous payment of obligations of up to $127.5 million to MyoKardia under the previous licensing agreement for mavacamten will also be vacated.
Bristol Myers is also expected to offer employment to some current LianBio workers, so it looks like the partnership between the two companies is deepening.
In April, the China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) accepted with priority review a New Drug Application for mavacamten as a treatment for adults suffering from symptomatic obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (oHCM). LianBio sees mavacamten potentially being approved as a treatment in China next year. The drug was already approved as a treatment for oHCM in Macau and Singapore earlier this year.
What comes next for LianBio stock
With $350 million in cash coming from its mavacamten deal with Bristol Myers and $127.5 million in potential licensing costs now vacated, LianBio has scored a major finanical win. To put the significance of the deal in perspective, LianBio currently has a market capitalization of roughly $404 million.
Beyond mavacamten, the biotech also recently debuted encouraging results for its infigratinib drug. The clinical data showed that the treatment provided a meaningful benefit to patients with gastric cancers in the study. Additionally, there were no treatment-related adverse events that led to dose discontinuation, death, or drug-induced liver injury in the trial.
Infigratinib has already been given breakthrough therapy designation by Chinese regulators for the treatment of gastric cancer. While it's too early to tell whether the drug will make it to market as a treatment for gastric cancer and other related tumors, it's encouraging that the biotech has other products in its pipeline beyond mavacamten that could potentially serve up wins.
The stock is a high-risk, high-reward play on the heels of its explosive gains, but LianBio is flashing some promising signals.
