Trillium Therapeutics Up 40% On Data From Lead Cancer Candidates, Pfizer Investment

Shares of clinical stage immuno-oncology company Trillium Therapeutics Inc's TRIL are trading higher on encouraging updated data from its ongoing lead cancer candidates TTI-622 and TTI-621 that was released after hours Tuesday.

What Happened: Preliminary data from the TTI-621 (SIRPa-IgG1 Fc fusion protein) four-part Phase 1 trial in patients with advanced relapsed or refractory hematologic malignancies showed that weekly infusions of up to 1.4 mg/kg are well-tolerated without dose-limiting thrombocytopenia.

Platelet decreases occurred on dosing days and recovered in two to four days. 

The antitumor activity in the 1mg/kg dose includes one partial response and one complete response in six evaluable patients. Two of those patients were bridged to allogeneic transplantation. The enrollment in the 2mg/kg cohort is underway.

Preliminary data from the TTI-622 (SIRPa-IgG4 fusion protein) two-part Phase 1a trial in patients with relapsed or refractory lymphoma or multiple myeloma safety assessment of the 8mg/kg dosing cohort has been successfully completed, Trillium said.

The cohort showed a 33% response rate (six out of 18 patients), with five partial response and one complete response.

Serious dose-limiting toxicity or thrombocytopenia in the 8mg/kg cohort was observed in one of six evaluable patients.

The enrollment in the 12 mg/kg cohort is underway.

"We expect to declare maximum tolerated doses or recommended phase 2 doses for both molecules either towards the end of this year or in the first half of 2021," Jan Skvarka, Trillium's president and CEO, said in a statement. 

Why It's Important: The data from the study is encouraging, and it raises the chances of the company's success.

Trillium also announced Tuesday that Pfizer Inc. PFE is backing the company with a $25-million investment. 

JMP Securities maintained a Market Outperform rating on the stock Wednesday and raised the price target from $10 to $14.

TRIL Price Action: Trillium Therapeutics shares were trading 40.06% higher to $13.25 on heavy volume at the time of publication Wednesday.

The shares are up 818% year-to-date, with a market cap of $561.74 million and the stock hitting a 52-week high Wednesday.