Purple Biotech Stock Hits Nearly 2-Month High On Cancer Drug Trial Success: Retail Thrilled

Shares of Purple Biotech (PPBT) surged more than 45% on Monday morning, reaching their highest levels since early October. 

The Israel-based biopharma reported positive final results from a randomized Phase 2 study of its lead oncology drug, CM24, in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).

“We are very excited about the final data, demonstrating CM24’s clear and consistent improvement across all efficacy endpoints evaluated in our randomized Phase 2 study,” stated Purple Biotech CEO Gil Efron. 

He added that the enhanced results in patients with CEACAM1 and other serum markers gave them optimism that selecting a biomarker-enriched patient population could further increase CM24’s efficacy, potentially positioning it as a treatment for multiple CEACAM1-expressing malignancies.

The Phase 2 study evaluated CM24, a novel first-in-class anti-CEACAM1 antibody, in combination with Bristol Myers Squibb’s immune checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab and standard-of-care chemotherapy in second-line metastatic PDAC patients. This was compared to chemotherapy alone.

PPBT sentiment and message volume on Dec 2 as of 10:00 am ET | source: Stocktwits

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for PPBT soared to an ‘extremely bullish’ (93/100) score, up from ‘neutral’ just a day ago, accompanied by a surge in message volume. 

One user optimistically said that PPBT should be trading at $250 per share, 50 times its current price, while another referred to CM24 as “the only pancreatic cancer drug.”

CM24 targets CEACAM1, a multi-functional membrane glycoprotein that plays a critical role in tumor invasiveness, metastasis, and immune evasion. 

The drug also affects serum neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) levels, which are involved in trapping and neutralizing pathogens.

Still, PPBT stock has dropped more than 65% year-to-date.

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