SLS Stock Climbs Premarket: Here’s What Smart Money Is Doing As Sellas Nears Critical Phase 3 AML Readout

CEO Angelos Stergiou said recently on “FOX & Friends” that AI and precision medicine could speed drug development and improve patient selection.

• Vision Financial Markets cut its SLS stake by 97%, while Martin Capital Advisors disclosed a new 23,082-share position.
• EverSource Wealth Advisors and Tradewinds Capital Management also added shares, while SignatureFD reduced its position.
• Retail investors are also watching for partnership or buyout signals following Stergiou’s comments and updated executive change-of-control terms.

Shares of Sellas Life Sciences (SLS) climbed 1% premarket on Monday as investors weighed new big-money stake disclosures with the company nearing a potentially key Phase 3 catalyst for its acute myeloid leukemia (AML) drug.

SLS stock fell 8% on Friday to $11.32, capping a 14% weekly decline and bringing its July loss to 23%. 

Big Money Reshuffles SLS Stakes 

Quiver Quantitative data covering holdings as of June 30 showed a mix of buying and selling among recently reported institutional positions. Vision Financial Markets cut its stake by 294,600 shares, or 97%, leaving it with 9,800 shares valued at about $144,650.

Martin Capital Advisors, meanwhile, disclosed a new 23,082-share position worth $340,690. EverSource Wealth Advisors added 9,942 shares, taking its holding to 10,039 shares valued at about $148,180. Additionally, Tradewinds Capital Management added 1,000 shares for a $14,760 position, while SignatureFD reduced its stake by 117 shares, or 68%, to 55 shares. Financial Consulate reported 600 shares, while Bogart Wealth disclosed two shares.

SLS Regal Trial Nears Finish Line

The main focus for SLS investors is the Phase 3 Regal trial of galinpepimut-S, or GPS, in AML. The study has reached 78 of the 80 events required to trigger final analysis, putting Sellas within two events of one of the most important clinical readouts in its history. CEO Angelos Stergiou has previously called the slower-than-expected accumulation of events encouraging, given that the trial’s primary endpoint is tied to survival. Sellas has said RegalL would be considered successful if GPS extends median overall survival to 12.6 months versus 8 months with standard treatment.

Sellas CEO Touts AI And Precision Medicine

Stergiou also put Sellas’ broader oncology strategy in the spotlight during a Friday appearance on “FOX & Friends,” where he discussed the role of AI in matching cancer patients with treatments more likely to work for them. “What AI does, it can basically scan the lock and then design and select the right key for you,” Stergiou said, using a lock-and-key analogy to describe precision medicine.

He also said that the company has used an early form of AI in work with Memorial Sloan Kettering and added that analyzing the genetic makeup of tumors could help speed drug development and improve patient selection. When asked whether AI could ultimately help beat cancer, Stergiou said he was “100% certain.”

SLS Investors Watch For Deal Signals

Retail investors continue to watch Sellas for signs of a potential partnership or acquisition. Stergiou fueled fresh speculation with a LinkedIn post thanking “collaborators, strategic partners, and shareholders” and saying he was “incredibly optimistic about the future.”

Investors have also focused on updated change-of-control terms for senior executives. Under qualifying circumstances, CFO John Burns and Chief Development Officer Dragan Cicic would receive 15 months of base salary, target bonuses, COBRA coverage and full equity acceleration. 

How Do Retail Traders Feel About SLS?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for SLS was ‘bearish’ amid ‘low’ message volume.

One user said, “$SLS Another week of patients being alive 2 years beyond the original expected trial ending.  Way beyond bullish!!”

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Another user said, “$SLS There is only one way to cure a bear with cancer. GPS & SL009 approvals. The approvals will surely take them out of their misery.”

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SLS stock has surged 519% over the past year. 

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