2023-10-09 09:48:33 ET
Summary
- Sutro Biopharma is advancing its lead candidate, luvelta, for the treatment of various types of cancer, with a focus on ovarian and endometrial cancers.
- The company will present results from a phase 1b study using luvelta to treat endometrial cancer at the ESMO Congress 2023, which could indicate its potential for ovarian cancer treatment.
- Sutro Biopharma has enough cash to fund its operations until the first half of 2025, with cash and investments of $358.3 million as of June 30, 2023.
- The global endometrial cancer market is expected to reach $24.08 billion by 2032.
Sutro Biopharma ( STRO ) has made great progress in advancing its lead candidate in the pipeline known as luvelta. This drug is being developed to treat many different types of cancer. However, it has a keen focus on ovarian cancer with two ongoing studies and then also in endometrial cancer as well. The latter, is why I believe it is good to go over this biotech next. That's because there is a catalyst opportunity for investors to look forward to. That's because it is running a phase 1b dose expansion study using this drug to treat both patients with ovarian and endometrial cancer.
However, this company will present results from this study using luvelta to treat patients with endometrial cancer at the European Society for Medical Oncology [ESMO] Congress 2023, which is being held between October 20th -24th of 2023. It remains to be seen how good this data is upon release, but the good news is that even if this indication doesn't pan out, it has two shots on goal with luvelta in terms of targeting ovarian cancer. One trial is focused on monotherapy luvelta for these patients and then the other study is taking a combination approach [luvelta + bevacizumab] to treat this very same patient population.
Approaching Presentation Could Serve As A Big Catalyst
As I noted above, Sutro Biopharma is going to present results from the phase 1b dose expansion study using luvelta for the treatment of patients with endometrial cancer at the ESMO Congress 2023. This could end up being an important catalyst to keep an eye on, because it might indicate whether or not the drug might also perform well for the treatment of patients with ovarian cancer. Again, there will be two shots on goal in being able to target this patient population with luvelta alone as a monotherapy and also in combination with bevacizumab. This is a big market opportunity, because it is said that the global endometrial cancer market is expected to reach $24.08 billion by 2032 . Luvelta is a folate receptor alpha antibody drug conjugate [ADC], which is being developed to treat various types of cancer. I already noted that the goal is to use this drug to target ovarian and endometrial cancer, but it is also being investigated in non-small cell lung cancer [NSCLC] and CBF/GLIS2 acute myeloid leukemia [AML]. Endometrial cancer is a disease that begins on the inner lining of the uterus. Such cancerous cell grow out of control and could end up spreading to other parts of the body as well.
Financials
According to the 10-Q SEC Filing , Sutro Biopharma had cash and investments of $358.3 million as of June 30, 2023. It believes that it has enough cash to fund its operations into the first half of 2025. The reason for the financial cash runway is because it was able to develop a royalty monetization agreement with Blackstone Life Sciences. Such an agreement was developed in June of 2023. It was able to immediately obtain an upfront cash payment of $140 million because of this agreement. Not only that, but it will be eligible to receive up to an additional $250 million in milestone payments based upon meeting certain return thresholds.
Risks To Business
There are a few risks that investors should be aware of before investing in Sutro Biopharma. The first risk to consider would be with respect to the release of results from the phase 1b dose expansion study, which is using luvelta for the treatment of patients with endometrial cancer. There is no guarantee that the drug will be able to successfully treat this patient population. A second risk to consider would then be the use of luvelta alone or in combination with bevacizumab for the treatment of patients with ovarian cancer. There is no guarantee that either this drug alone or in combination with a VEGF-A inhibitor will be enough to help these patients.
Conclusion
Sutro Biopharma has made great progress in being able to use its drug luvelta to target multiple cancer indications. I noted the fact that above that it is gearing up to provide results from its phase 1b dose expansion study, using this drug to treat patients with endometrial cancer at the European Society for Medical Oncology [ESMO] Congress 2023, which is being held between October 20th -24th of 2023. Hopefully, this data turns out to be good. However, it is good that this company is already in the process of also using this drug alone as a monotherapy or in combination with bevacizumab for the treatment of patients with ovarian cancer as well. It has already initiated a phase 2/3 study known as REFRaME, which holds potential to greatly advance this biotech. How so? Well, it is because once enrollment of about 110 patients is achieved, Sutro intends to apply for FDA Accelerated Approval based on Overall Response Rate [ORR] as a primary endpoint.
For further details see:
Sutro Biopharma: Luvelta Data For Endometrial Cancer Treatment Approaching