TScan Therapeutics Inc.'s (TCRX:NASDAQ) Phase 1 ALLOHA study, evaluating its lead therapeutic candidates TSC-100 and TSC-101 in hematologic malignancies, showed patients continuing to have a positive response after one year, reported Wedbush analyst Dr. David Nierengarten in a Nov. 5 research note. TSC-100 and TSC-101 are T-cell receptor-engineered T-cell therapies (TCR-Ts).
"We see a catalyst-rich next few months ahead with data building in prominence on stock impact," Nierengarten wrote.
87% return potential
Wedbush has a $10 per share target price on the Massachusetts-based biotech, now trading at about $5.36 per share, noted the analyst. The difference between these figures implies an 87% return potential for investors.
TScan Therapeutics remains rated Outperform.
Durability of response data
Nierengarten presented the clinical trial's latest results. As of the July 8, 2024 data cutoff date, in Phase 1 of ALLOHA, 16 patients with hematologic tumors had been administered TSC-100 or TSC-101, and 11 patients had been given a placebo. Median follow-ups had occurred at 5.8 months and 5.3 months, respectively.
At the time, none of the patients in the treatment arm had had a relapse. In the control arm, however, three, or 27% of, the 11 patients had, and the median time to relapse was 159 days. The analyst explained that this is typical for patients receiving a hematopoietic stem cell transplant after reduced intensity conditioning.
One year out from treatment, five patients were evaluable, and all remained relapse free and minimal residual disease negative at the time. These data underscore the durability of response to this TCR-T treatment, Nierengarten commented. Its safety profile was shown to be favorable still, with no patients experiencing dose-limiting toxicities or adverse events associated with allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation.
"Enrollment continues in dose expansion cohorts, and results could support a registrational trial as early as 2025, pending regulatory feedback," Nierengarten wrote.
On the horizon
TScan Therapeutics has several catalysts, related to its clinical programs, on the horizon, which Nierengarten listed.
On Nov. 8 and 9, the company will present preclinical data in the poster sessions at the annual Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer meeting. One poster will show in vitro combinatorial data for T-Plex, TScan's cellular therapy for treating solid tumors. It is comprised of two to three different TCR-Ts that target different tumor antigens on different human leukocyte antigen (HLA) types.
A second poster will detail the expansion of ImmunoBank, the biotech's diverse bank of therapeutic T-cell receptors (TCRs) that recognize diverse targets and are associated with multiple HLA types. The third will depict development of a target agnostic platform to evaluate how TCR-Ts affect primary human tissues.
On Dec. 9, TScan Therapeutics will present updated one-year data from ALLOHA, at the American Society for Hematology Annual Meeting in December.
By year-end, the biotech will announce initial data from administering singleplex therapy, cell therapy engineered using a single TCR, to patients with solid tumors. This treatment is being given to establish safety before administering multiplex therapy, cell therapy engineered from multiple TCRs.
In 2025, TScan Therapeutics will provide long-term duration of response data for multiplex therapy in solid tumors and will potentially commence a registrational trial for TSC-100 and TSC-101.
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