Elicio Therapeutics (ELTX) stock is having a good Wednesday, and for good reason. The company shared some encouraging clinical observations from its ELI-002 7P treatment — specifically, three patients in the Phase 2 AMPLIFY-7P study achieved confirmed complete responses after also receiving Bristol-Myers Squibb's (BMY) Opdivo (nivolumab)-based therapy.
Two of those three patients have maintained their complete responses for at least eight months, and one is still going strong at over 13 months. All three showed persistent mKRAS-specific T cell responses, which is exactly the kind of immune activity you want to see in a cancer immunotherapy.
These results are particularly striking because they come from a patient population that typically doesn't respond well to existing treatments. Pancreatic cancer is notoriously tough, and KRAS-mutant forms are especially aggressive. So seeing durable complete responses — even in a small number of patients — is worth paying attention to.
Elicio isn't stopping there. The company plans to launch a Phase 1 study, subject to funding, that will test ELI-002 7P in combination with standard gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel chemotherapy and an anti-PD-1 inhibitor in treatment-naïve patients with metastatic mKRAS pancreatic cancer. The idea is to prospectively test the hypothesis that ELI-002 7P can boost anti-tumor immunity and make checkpoint inhibitors work better.
This news comes on the heels of some less exciting data. Earlier this month, Elicio reported disappointing results from the same Phase 2 AMPLIFY-7P study in patients with mutant KRAS-driven pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) after standard locoregional treatment. The trial didn't meet its primary endpoint of disease-free survival in the intent-to-treat population. But the company pointed to early treatment benefits and subgroup findings that are shaping its planned Phase 3 program.
So what's the takeaway? Elicio is using these observations to refine its development strategy. The company said it will use the study findings to further evaluate checkpoint inhibitor combinations and inform future development in both metastatic PDAC and the adjuvant PDAC Phase 3 trial.
On the analyst front, ELTX stock carries a Buy rating with an average price target of $21.75 — a far cry from the current price around $3.55. Recent moves include Jones Trading downgrading to Hold on June 16, HC Wainwright & Co. maintaining Buy and raising its target to $23.00 on June 15, and B. Riley Securities initiating with Buy and a $27.00 target on June 10.
As of Wednesday's publication, shares were up 28.80% at $3.55, according to market data.
