Terns Pharmaceuticals' Leukemia Drug Seen As Potential Disruptor In CML Treatment Landscape, Analyst Upgrades

Terns Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:TERN) stock is trading higher on Monday, with a session volume of 24.36 million, compared to its average volume of 1.31 million, according to Benzinga Pro.

The company announced that data from the ongoing CARDINAL trial of TERN-701 in participants with previously treated chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) will be presented at the 67th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition.

The ASH abstract reports data from the ongoing dose-escalation and dose-expansion phases of the CARDINAL study of TERN-701 in patients with previously treated CML. As of June 30, the cutoff date, 55 patients were enrolled:

Of 32 efficacy-evaluable patients:

• Overall (cumulative) major molecular response (MMR) rate of 75% (24/32) by 24 weeks, with 64% (14/22) achieving MMR and 100% (10/10) maintaining MMR.
• Molecular response is a state in which the level of the abnormal BCR-ABL1 transcript is extremely low, a significant therapeutic goal.

“These data further validate the potential of TERN-701 to be a new, game-changing therapy for CML. The 24-week MMR achievement rate with TERN-701 is unprecedented, trending at least two times higher than the rates reported in other Phase 1 studies of CML therapies that are approved or in development,” said Amy Burroughs, CEO of Terns.

An encouraging safety and tolerability profile was observed at all doses.

William Blair upgraded Terns to Outperform from Market Perform, citing the best-case outcome for the TERN-701 readout. The efficacy results were punctuated by the impressive MMR achievement rate of 64%.

Analyst Andy Hsieh wrote, “Overall, we believe the efficacy results represent our best-case scenario and that TERN-701 has the potential to meaningfully disrupt the CML treatment landscape.”

Pending a larger sample size and longer maturity, TERN-701 could also challenge the dominant market player, Novartis AG’s (NYSE:NVS) Scemblix (asciminib).

Price Action: TERN stock is up 88.67% at $15.58 at the last check on Monday.

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