ORIC Pharmaceuticals Maintains Buy Rating Amidst Competitive Landscape
On Thursday, H.C. Wainwright maintained its Buy rating and $21.00 price target for ORIC Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ORIC). This decision came after reviewing competitor Ipsen's (IPSEY) Phase 1b/2 trial results, presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2024 conference. The trial compared the efficacy of tazemetostat and enzalutamide against enzalutamide alone in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) who had previously progressed on abiraterone acetate.
The results from Ipsen's trial showed a radiographic progression-free survival (rPFS) of 16.6 months for the combination treatment versus 13.8 months for the control arm. H.C. Wainwright noted that the control arm's performance was notably better than historical controls for enzalutamide post-abiraterone, which typically show an rPFS of 4-6 months. The firm suggested that the patient population's characteristics, such as potentially more indolent disease, could have influenced the results.
H.C. Wainwright advised against comparing these results to those of Pfizer's mevrometostat in Phase 1, citing differences in patient populations and baseline disease measurability. The firm emphasized the lack of complete details, which prevents a full analysis of the competitor's results.
In other developments, ORIC Pharmaceuticals has initiated dosing of ORIC-944, its lead product, in a Phase 1b trial for metastatic prostate cancer, in collaboration with Bayer and Janssen Research & Development. The company plans for ORIC-944 to enter phase 3 trials in 2025. Additionally, ORIC Pharmaceuticals is developing a second asset, an EGFR TKI, expected to provide interpretable phase 1b data in the first half of 2025.
Despite the competitive landscape and the challenges highlighted by H.C. Wainwright, ORIC Pharmaceuticals' strong cash position and the potential of its pipeline in prostate cancer treatments maintain investor confidence. The company's financial stability is underscored by its liquid assets exceeding short-term obligations, although analysts have revised their earnings downwards for the upcoming period and do not expect the company to be profitable this year.