This Is A Near-Term Driver At CytRX

Oppenheimer commented on CytRx Corporation CYTR Tuesday and maintained an Outperform rating and $10 price target.

The research note followed the company’s Q1 results and its posting EPS of $(0.31) versus expectations of $(0.20).

Analysts Christopher Marai and Michelle Gilson noted that on Monday, “CytRx reported interim results from two ongoing P1b trials of aldoxorubicin in combo (with either gem/ifos) in chemo-resistant cancers. The combinations were well-tolerated and induced tumor responses.”

The near-term driver of the stock was expected to be glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) data that would be released at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2015 meeting beginning May 29.

Marai mentioned that “animal models showed accumulation of aldox (but not doxo) in brain tumor tissue” which suggested “aldox albumin-transport facilitates blood-brain-barrier crossing brain.”

“GBM remains an area of high unmet need,” according to the analysts, and “significant results in this indication could represent upside for CYTR.”

“Preliminary [GBM] results from the Phase II trial, announced in January 2015, revealed initial clinical activity including tumor shrinkage and prolonged stable disease in several patients. Interestingly, one patient showed a complete response, potentially supporting the ability of aldoxorubicin to cross the blood-brain barrier. We believe that the bar for demonstrating substantial efficacy in this initial trial is very high, given the small trial size, and that GBM can be a heterogeneous disease and single patients can skew results significantly,” the analysts wrote.

In addition to GBM results, the analysts provided a chart of all the near-term drivers in the company’s product pipeline.

Source: Oppenheimer and Company Reports.

CytRx recently traded at $4.19, down 4.9 percent.