In a June 7 research note, DawsonJames Securities analyst Jason Kolbert reported Sorrento Therapeutics Inc.'s (SRNE:NASDAQ) latest news items.
For one, Mexico's health regulatory agency, the Comisión Federal para la Protección contra Riesgos Sanitarios, or COFEPRIS, approved Sorrento's COVI-STIX assay for the SARS-CoV-2 virus for emergency use, Kolbert noted. The California-based biopharma expects to have the test available in Mexico in a few weeks, having already started the process of rolling it out there.
"This approval is expected to form the foundation for similar clearances in other Latin American countries, including Brazil, in which Sorrento is currently conducting multiple therapeutic clinical trials," wrote Kolbert.
Two, one of Sorrento's license and development partners, Sichuan Kelun-Biotech Biopharmaceutical, presented data from its Phase 1 study of A166 at the recent American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting, Kolbert relayed. A166 is a site specific, third generation, HER-2 positive antibody drug conjugate.
"Compared to its commercial competitors, A166 demonstrated a better safety profile in the initial study and potentially better efficacy," he wrote. Specifically, A166's overall response rate of 71.4% at a dose of 6 milligrams per kilogram (6 mg/kg) was higher than that of DS-8201, which is 60.9% at a dose of 5.4 mg/kg.
Three, another of Sorrento's license partners, Lee's Pharmaceutical Holdings, was greenlighted to proceed with a multicenter Phase 3 trial of the antibody Socazolimab as a potential firstline treatment for patients with extensive stage small cell lung cancer. The study's principal investigator is Shun Lu with the Shanghai Chest Hospital.
Four, Sorrento completed its acquisition of ACEA Therapeutics, noted Kolbert. With this transaction, the biopharma gained two clinical candidates, Abivertinib (a tyrosine kinase inhibitor) and AC0058 (a next generation Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor), as well as preclinical candidate AC0939. The company also now has ACEA's proprietary database of more than 1,000,000 compounds and its sizable manufacturing facility in Quzhou, China, where Abivertinib and AC0058 were made for clinical studies.
DawsonJames has a Buy rating on Sorrento Therapeutics. Based on its model that excludes the ACEA acquisition, the brokerage firm assigns a $19 per share price target to Sorrento. In comparison, the stock is trading now at about $8.11 per share.
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