WHITEFISH, MT / ACCESSWIRE / November 3, 2014 / Immunotherapy leverages the body's own immune system to fight off diseases ranging from allergies to cancer. For example, Dendreon Corporation's (NASDAQ: DNDN) PROVENGE therapy takes the patient's own immune cells and reprograms them to attack advanced prostate cancer. These dynamics led to a 22.5% reduced risk of death with just a 1.5% discontinuance rate.
In this article, we'll take a look at a relatively unknown publicly traded company that is taking a new approach when it comes to immunotherapy.
Innovative and Diverse Immunotherapy
Heat Biologics Inc. (NASDAQ: HTBX) is a clinical-stage company focused on developing its proprietary ImPACT fully allogeneic cell based immunotherapy for use in the treatment of a wide range of cancers and infectious diseases. By transforming living tumors into powerful miniature osmotic pumps, the platform robustly stimulates the immune system against targeted diseases.
Unlike conventional immunotherapies, the company's approach has been shown to induce and maintain an immune response against multiple tumor proteins, thus unleashing a powerful multi-prong attack against the tumor. Clinical and pre-clinical data suggests that the therapy generates a potent anti-tumor immune response that fights tumors and keeps the body tumor-free even when re-challenged.
ImPACT works by expressing a version of a naturally occurring heat-shock protein known as gp96, which is a "molecular warning system" of sorts that has evolved important properties as a natural defense against necrotic cell death. In effect, the technology stimulates a process that the body's immune system has naturally evolved over millions of years to properly detect.
Robust Clinical Pipeline
Heat Biologics has two late-stage clinical trials targeting non-small-cell lung cancer and bladder cancer, as well as three additional oncological indications in preclinical phases. HS-110 leverages modified lung cancer cells to stimulate an immune response to active a cytotoxic T cell response against a range of antigens that are expressed by a high proportion of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer.
HS-410 was similarly designed to stimulate an immune response to active cytotoxic T cell responses against various antigens that are known to be shared amongst a high proportion of patients with bladder cancer. In many cases, currently available treatments have high failure rates and are poorly tolerated among patients, making it an important indication to target for both patients and investors.
In terms of end markets, lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer related death for both men and women worldwide, with over 220,000 people diagnosed in the U.S. alone with over 70% of those dying from the disease. Bladder cancer is much more rare with only 73,000 new cases in 2012, although the mortality rates are higher with no new drug approvals in more than 25 years.
Looking Ahead
Heat Biologics trades with a market capitalization of roughly $40 million, despite having two Phase II drugs in its clinical pipeline. Immunotherapy companies, like Galena Biopharma Inc. or NewLink Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: NLNK), trade at much loftier valuations of about $243 million and $974 million, respectively, although they have later stage drugs in their pipelines.
The company's unique approach, using allogeneic cells rather than patient-specific cells and turning tumors into osmotic pumps, represents a new take on how immunotherapies could work. Investors in the space may want to take a closer look at the stock given these potential advantages and the company's relatively low market capitalization compared to many of its peers.
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SOURCE: Emerging Growth LLC