Caribou Stock Falls 30% Amid Study Update, Downgrade Evercore (NASDAQ:CRBU)

Caribou Biosciences (NASDAQ:CRBU) stock fell 30% on Monday amid the release of Phase 1 data from its ANTLER trial for the company’s CART-T cell therapy CB-010.

The company said in a statement released late Sunday that “CB-010 allogeneic CAR-T cell therapy with partial HLA matching has the potential to rival the efficacy and safety profiles of approved autologous CAR-T cell therapies.”

Caribou said he plans to enroll about 20 additional patients with second-line large B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, or LBCL, in the trial to confirm that partial HLA matching improves patient outcomes. They also plan to enroll up to 10 patients who have relapsed from any prior CD19-targeted therapy in a proof-of-concept cohort.

Initial data from these two cohorts are expected in the first half of 2025, with the potential initiation of a pivotal phase 3 trial in second-line LBCL patients, including patients regardless of HLA type, in the second half of 2025.

The drug’s developer presented the data Monday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s 2024 annual meeting.

Also on Monday, Evercore analysts downgraded the stock to “in-line” and lowered their price target to $3 from $13, saying it was “not yet convinced” that Caribou’s therapy “will be competitive and will wait on the sidelines until to the dates of the first semester of 2025.”

“Evercore spoke with management on Sunday and learned that this will require approximately 13 different stock products to serve 90% of patients, which will certainly increase COGS, but the team suggests it is manageable,” the firm said. investments.

She added that if the HLA strategy “works out,” it could be useful for the entire allogeneic CAR-T field, but it’s not yet known whether the strategy would have an impact on its CB-011 and CB-12 therapies.

“Partial HLA matching will also be evaluated in these programs and Evercore is curious to find out,” Evercore said.

It added that “the FDA has cleared the outpatient therapy, which should accelerate enrollment and expand patient access, providing an additional benefit over autologous CAR-T.”