Adaptimmune rises on positive study data on cancer drug; job cuts

Adaptimmune Therapeutics

08/11/2022 15:46

** Shares of cancer therapies developer Adaptimmune
Therapeutics  ADAP.O  up about 8% at $1.79
    ** Co says an ongoing early-stage study showed a single dose
of its drug, ADP-A2M4CD8, increased the overall response rate to
52%, from 44% in an earlier data, in heavily pre-treated
patients with ovarian, urothelial, and head and neck cancers in
early stage trial of its cancer therapy 
    ** ADAP says it will stop its trial on esophagus cancer and
de-prioritize other non-core programs and will also lay off
25%-30% of headcount to extend its cash runway into early 2025
    ** Co had cash and cash equivalents of $79 mln, as of Sept.
30
    ** Separately, co to start rolling submission with U.S. FDA
for approval of its therapy, afami-cel, in this quarter, with
target of completion in mid-2023; the therapy is a potential
treatment for synovial sarcoma, a rare type of cancer that
affects soft tissues
    ** Despite session's gains, stock had fallen ~53% YTD
compared with a ~12% decline in the Nasdaq Biotechnology index
 .NBI 
 (Reporting by Sriparna Roy)
 ((Sriparna.roy@thomsonreuters.com))