The Prescient Therapeutics Ltd (ASX: PTX) share price is freefalling today after the company provided an update on its next-generation immunotherapy platform.
At the time of writing, the Prescient share price has fallen 11%, trading at 20 cents.
Let's take a look at the clinical stage oncology company's news out today.
What did Prescient announce?
Investors are selling Prescient shares after the biotech announced it has completed a CAR-T manufacturing milestone. CAR-T cell therapy is a form of immunotherapy that uses laboratory altered T cells to fight cancer.
In today's release, Prescient advised it has successfully incorporated SpyTag into a range of binders for its next-generation CAR-T programs. This includes the OmniCAR system, a breakthrough CAR T therapy platform that is believed to be a more safe and effective treatment when treating cancers.
In addition to the update, Prescient also received delivery of lentiviral vectors that will be used to produce CAR-T cells expressing SpyCatcher.
Both the binders and lentiviral vectors have been delivered to the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne. Testing and in vitro (using live culture) and in vivo (using a living organism) development is expected to be undertaken.
Prescient CEO and managing director Steven Yatomi-Clarke commented:
Demonstrating that novel components can be manufactured is a crucial milestone in the development of an innovative next-generation CAR platform like OmniCAR.
… Prescient's research team at the Peter Mac has completed all the preparatory work in parallel, and the delivery of the binders and vectors now enables the team to progress the development of our in-house next-generation cell therapies.
About the Prescient share price
Established in 1986, Prescient focuses on developing novel, personalised therapies for a range of cancers. This includes cancers such as Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), as well as breast, ovarian and gastric cancers.
Despite today's fall, the Prescient share price is up more than 185% in 2021, and has lifted 233% over the last 12 months. The company's shares reached a multi-year high of 23 cents yesterday.
Prescient presides a market capitalisation of roughly $144 million, with approximately 640 million shares on issue.
