Shares of
Entrada Therapeutics, Inc.
TRDA
rallied 18.51% after the company announced a collaboration deal with biotech giant
Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc
.
VRTX
.
Both companies have collaborated to discover and develop intracellular Endosomal Escape Vehicle (EEV) therapeutics for myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1).
The collaboration primarily focuses on Entrada’s program for DM1, ENTR-701, which is in late-stage preclinical development.
ENTR-701, a proprietary EEV-conjugated phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomer, is the second candidate from Entrada’s growing pipeline of EEV therapeutics. The candidate is designed to address the underlying cause of myotonic dystrophy type 1 through allele-specific targeting of the disease-associated trinucleotide repeats in dystrophia myotonica protein kinase transcripts.
Per the terms, Vertex will pay Entrada an upfront payment of $224 million and make an equity investment of $26 million in the latter. Entrada is also eligible to receive up to $485 million for the successful achievement of certain research, development, regulatory and commercial milestones and tiered royalties on future net sales for any products that may result from this collaboration agreement.
The agreement includes a four-year global research collaboration whereby Entrada will continue to advance and receive payments for certain research activities related to ENTR-701 as well as additional DM1-related research activities, while Vertex will be responsible for the global development, manufacturing and commercialization of ENTR-701 and any additional programs stemming from Entrada’s DM1 research efforts.
Shares of Entrada have surged 22.7% in the year so far against the
industry
’s decline of 18.1%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The deal with Vertex results in an immediate cash influx of $250 million and investors were upbeat about the same. This cash influx will enable the company to extend its cash runaway. Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities were $215.6 million as of Sep 30, 2022.
Entrada is building a robust development portfolio of oligonucleotide-, antibody- and enzyme-based programs for the potential treatment of neuromuscular diseases, immunology, oncology and diseases of the central nervous system. The lead oligonucleotide programs include ENTR-601-44 targeting Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and ENTR-701 targeting DM1.
Entrada expects to file its first Investigational New Drug (IND) application for ENTR-601-44 for patients with Duchenne who are amenable to exon 44 skipping shortly. The company intends to initiate a single ascending dose study in healthy volunteers, with initial clinical data anticipated in the second half of next year following regulatory feedback and potential IND clearance. A second IND for ENTR-701 for the potential treatment of DM1 is planned for the second half of 2023.
Entrada currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
A couple of better-ranked stocks in the healthcare space are
Gilead Sciences, Inc
.
GILD
and
Biogen
BIIB
. Both the stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here
.
Over the past 30 days, earnings estimates for Gilead have increased by 48 cents to $7.09. Gilead also surpassed estimates in three of the trailing four quarters, with the average being 0.35%.
Over the past 30 days, earnings estimates for Biogen have increased by 30 cents to $16.98. Biogen also surpassed estimates in three of the trailing four quarters, with the average being 7.02%.
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