Equity Insider News Commentary
Issued on behalf of Oncolytics Biotech Inc.
VANCOUVER, BC, May 23, 2025
/PRNewswire/ -- Equity Insider News Commentary –
With early onset cancer rates on the rise and funding being cut to
NIH, the future for cancer patients is increasingly being
shaped not by public institutions, but by the breakthroughs
emerging from the private sector. For investors watching the next
wave of oncology breakthroughs, companies like Oncolytics
Biotech Inc. (NASDAQ: ONCY) (TSX: ONC), Akoya Biosciences,
Inc. (NASDAQ: AKYA), Quanterix Corporation (NASDAQ:
QTRX), TScan Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: TCRX), and
Arcellx, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACLX) are increasingly standing
out.
Cancer treatment markets are on track for massive expansion over
the next decade. Immunotherapy, in particular, is expected to
reach an annual market size of US$1.2
trillion by 2033, driven by a compound annual growth rate of
18%, according to analysts at Precedence Research.
Meanwhile, global oncology spending overall is projected by
Vision Research Reports to surpass US$900 billion, climbing at an estimated 11% per
year.
Oncolytics Biotech Inc. (NASDAQ: ONCY) (TSX: ONC) is
gaining new visibility ahead of its upcoming presentation at the
2025 ASCO Annual Meeting, where the company will unveil new
clinical trial data on pelareorep's immunological activity in
pancreatic cancer. The data, drawn from the GOBLET study,
highlights how pelareorep appears to convert immunologically "cold"
tumors into "hot," inflamed environments—potentially making them
more vulnerable to immune attack.
Specifically, new analyses show pelareorep induces a
pro-inflammatory tumor microenvironment (TME) and activates both
innate and adaptive immunity. This is a rare achievement in
pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), a cancer type widely
considered resistant to immune-based therapies.
"For the first time, we're able to map the cascade of immune
responses stimulated by pelareorep," said Thomas Heineman, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical
Officer for Oncolytics. "It starts with the expansion of
anti-reovirus T cells, followed by the upregulation of chemokines
that mediate the expansion of pre-existing TIL (tumor-infiltrating
lymphocyte) clones in the blood."
According to Heineman, these immune cells don't just expand in
the bloodstream—they're believed to return to the tumor itself and
help shrink it.
"These T cells can now return to the tumor and attack it,
resulting in a reduction in tumor size," Heineman added.
"Pelareorep-mediated upregulation of chemokines also makes the
tumor microenvironment immunologically active and able to actively
recruit cancer-specific T cells to the tumor. These findings deepen
our understanding of pelareorep's ability to convert
immunologically cold tumors into immunologically active ones that
may benefit from pelareorep-based combination therapy."
The abstract, titled "Role of pelareorep in activating
anti-tumor immunity in PDAC," (Abstract #2562) will be presented as
a poster during the Developmental Therapeutics – Immunotherapy
session on June 2, 2025. A copy will
be made available on the Media page of Oncolytics' website
following the session.
This new mechanistic insight builds on prior efficacy data from
GOBLET Cohort 1, where pelareorep—combined with nab-paclitaxel,
gemcitabine, and the checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab—produced a
62% overall response rate, 85% disease control rate, and 45%
12-month survival rate in first-line metastatic PDAC patients.
For context, GOBLET is a multi-cohort, phase 1/2 study
evaluating pelareorep in combination with various immunotherapy and
chemotherapy regimens across gastrointestinal cancers. Conducted in
partnership with AIO-Studien-gGmbH in Germany, the trial uses an adaptive design:
cohorts meeting efficacy thresholds may expand enrollment. In
pancreatic cancer, this trial is a proving ground for pelareorep's
use in first-line and newly diagnosed settings—potentially setting
up future pivotal decisions.
Progress continues elsewhere in the GOBLET study as well. In
Cohort 5, newly diagnosed metastatic PDAC patients received
pelareorep with modified FOLFIRINOX, with or without atezolizumab.
After completing the safety run-in in six evaluable patients, the
study has been cleared to proceed by both Germany's Paul-Ehrlich-Institut and an
independent data safety monitoring board. This arm is backed by a
US$5 million PanCAN grant,
with further data expected in 2026. Favorable data from this cohort
could expand pelareorep's potential addressable market in this
indication.
Meanwhile, in anal cancer, Cohort 4 has already reported signs
of durable response. Of 12 evaluable patients treated with
pelareorep and atezolizumab, four achieved partial responses, and
one reached a complete response lasting more than 15 months—results
that surpass historical benchmarks for checkpoint inhibitors alone.
The cohort is now being expanded to validate these findings and
assess registrational potential.
In breast cancer, the recently completed randomized phase 2
BRACELET-1 trial in HR+/HER2- metastatic disease showed patients
receiving pelareorep plus paclitaxel nearly doubled their
progression-free survival compared to paclitaxel alone. These
outcomes are supportive of those seen in a prior randomized phase 2
study and strengthen the case for a pivotal trial.
Key opinion leaders continue backing pelareorep's approach. In a
recent panel hosted by H.C. Wainwright, Profs. Martine
Piccart and Alexander Eggermont
emphasized how pelareorep may help "turn cold tumors hot"—a key
requirement for making immunotherapies effective in traditionally
resistant cancers.
While still in the clinical development stage, pelareorep has
demonstrated compatibility with multiple chemotherapies and
checkpoint inhibitors, suggesting it could function as a plug-in
immune booster across diverse treatment regimens. Its intravenous
delivery, systemic impact, and favorable safety profile further
support its adaptability in combination trials.
"Pelareorep continues to build clinical momentum, delivering
encouraging results in challenging cancer types and has the
potential to extend and improve the lives of patients," said
Wayne Pisano, Chair of
Oncolytics' Board of Directors and Interim CEO. "This
versatility and broad potential applicability are achieved via
intravenous administration and the ability to combine with
chemotherapies and checkpoint inhibitors while maintaining a
favorable safety profile."
As it stands, Oncolytics may be entering a stretch where
scientific validation, clinical optionality, and capital
flexibility are all converging. The company ended Q1 2025 with
$15.3 million in cash and a
US$20 million equity facility from
Alumni Capital, giving it financing control without
restrictive terms or dilutive warrants.
With fresh data coming out of ASCO and multiple arms of
GOBLET advancing, pelareorep's immune-activating potential appears
to be gaining traction across an expanding range of solid tumor
indications.
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In other recent industry developments and happenings in the
market include:
Akoya Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKYA) recently reported
Q1 2025 revenue of $16.6 million,
with a 12% year-over-year increase in installed instruments and a
44.7% rise in total publications. Gross margin improved to 59.3%,
and operating losses narrowed 38% compared to the same quarter last
year. The company highlighted major cancer collaborations in the
U.S. and Singapore, along with a
new ADC breast cancer assay unveiled at AACR.
This comes just two weeks after Akoya and Quanterix
Corporation (NASDAQ: QTRX) announced amended terms to their
merger agreement, reducing share issuance by over 9 million while
preserving a $20 million cash
component. The merger brings together two complementary
platforms—spatial phenotyping and ultra-sensitive biomarker
detection—aimed at accelerating next-generation precision
diagnostics across oncology and immunology.
"We remain excited to combine with Quanterix and believe
this partnership offers compelling value for Akoya
shareholders," said Brian
McKelligon, CEO of Akoya Biosciences. "We look
forward to closing the transaction and leveraging our collective
scale to drive synergies across our organizations and customers,
expediting our path to profitability."
Akoya shareholders are now set to receive
$0.38 per share in cash and 0.1461
shares of Quanterix common stock.
"The strategic merits of the transaction remain strong even as
the market has been focused on academic funding and tariff
concerns," said Masoud Toloue, PhD, CEO of Quanterix. "The
combined company will provide a significant value creation
opportunity for shareholders."
The transaction is expected to close in Q2 2025, positioning the
combined company as a scaled leader in spatial biology and
ultra-sensitive biomarker detection.
TScan Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: TCRX) posted Q1 2025
revenue of $2.2 million, driven by
collaboration activity with Amgen, and ended the quarter
with $251.7 million in cash and
marketable securities.
"This is an exciting year for TScan as we advance our
mission of bringing life-changing T-cell therapies to patients with
both heme and solid tumor malignancies," said Gavin MacBeath, Ph.D., CEO of TScan
Therapeutics. "We look forward to dosing our first patient with
multiplex therapy soon, and to sharing safety and efficacy data
later this year."
Net loss for the quarter was $34.1
million, with R&D spending up due to manufacturing
scale-up and preclinical work. The company is actively enrolling
patients in two ongoing Phase 1 studies: ALLOHA in heme
malignancies and PLEXI-T in solid tumors. Key milestones this year
include a planned IND submission, a registrational trial
initiation, and clinical data readouts from both trials.
Arcellx, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACLX) recently reported new data
from its Phase 2 iMMagine-1 study showing a 97% overall response
rate and 68% complete/stringent complete response rate in heavily
pretreated multiple myeloma patients. No delayed neurotoxicities or
immune-mediated enterocolitis have been observed to date, with
safety and durability metrics continuing to impress at 12.6 months
median follow-up.
"These clinical data from our registrational study continue to
support our belief that anito-cel has the potential to address the
needs of myeloma patients and the physicians who serve them," said
Rami Elghandour, CEO of
Arcellx. "There is no cure for multiple myeloma. We believe
there remains an unmet medical need for CAR-T therapies that are
efficacious, safe, and accessible."
The data will be presented in an oral session at EHA2025, ahead
of a planned commercial launch in 2026 with partner Kite, a
Gilead company.
Source:
https://equity-insider.com/2025/03/18/is-oncolytics-biotech-the-markets-most-undervalued-cancer-opportunity/
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