The decision was based on safety data from three patients in Cohort 5, with no dose-limiting toxicities reported.
Shares of Pasithea Therapeutics Corp. (KTTA) surged nearly 47% on Thursday, closing at a two-month high, after an external committee approved advancing its cancer drug trial to the next dosing cohort.
The news also resulted in the company's stock drawing the highest jump in retail investor chatter among healthcare stocks on Stocktwits.
Message volume about KTTA soared by a whopping 48,000% by late Thursday, while sentiment flipped to 'extremely bullish' from 'bearish' a day ago.
Pasithea said that its Phase 1 clinical trial of PAS-004 for advanced cancer has been cleared to advance to Cohort 6 (30mg capsule), following a recommendation from the independent Safety Review Committee.
The decision was based on safety data from three patients in Cohort 5, with no dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs) reported.
Notably, none of the first 19 patients — across both capsule and tablet formulations — have experienced rash, a common and often dose-limiting side effect seen with competitor MEK inhibitors.
The ongoing trial is a multi-center, open-label, dose-escalation study evaluating the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and preliminary efficacy of PAS-004.
One bullish watcher said the stock "will probably open at $2.18" on Friday, implying a more than 35% jump from the last close.
Another user recommended holding the stock for a week or two and it "should be at $5 or $7."
Pasithea stock has lost nearly 50% this year. Shares were up marginally in Thursday's after-hours trading.
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