Kite Pharma Spiking After Release Of Positive Clinical Data

Kite Pharma Inc KITE announced positive topline data from the PII ZUMA-1 study in NHL.

“We view the 3-month CR rate across the entire ZUMA-1 cohort as favorable and suggestive of a durable response,” Jefferies’ Biren Amin said in a report. He maintained a Buy rating on the company, with a price target of $72.

“The ZUMA-1 study pre-defines duration of response as inclusive of all three pt cohorts, and therefore we think the trial should observe a >6 months duration of response which view as a key marker for regulatory approval,” Amin wrote.

Related Link: Juno Therapeutics Viewed As A Sympathy Play On Kite Pharma's KTE-C19

More Information Awaited

The results support the approvability of KTE-C19 and Kite Pharma is likely to offer more details around its commercial aspects during the investor day on October 18. The company would also likely provide a breakdown of the Phase II data by patient subgroup/characteristics during ASH in December.

Durability Of KTE-C19 In NHL

Amin believes that the FDA would be most interested in the durability of response when evaluating the efficacy of KTE-C19 and that Kite Pharma has set a bar of 6.6 months for mOS based on the Scholar 1 study in a similar patient population.

“Although the PII durability data is immature, we view the CR rate at 3 months follow up to be a reasonable proxy for durability at this juncture and believe that most of the CR responses ongoing at 3-months should remain durable,” the analyst wrote.

Shares of Kite Pharma surged more than 8 percent by 10:55 a.m. ET.

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