The Imugene Limited (ASX: IMU) share price took off today despite the company's silence.
However, today's gains might have been a belated reaction to the news the company announced to the ASX yesterday.
As of Thursday's close, the Imugene share price is 20 cents. That's 17.65% higher than it was at the end of Wednesday's session. It reached an intraday high of 21.5 cents today, representing a 26.47% gain.
For context, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) finished the day 1.6% lower.
Let's take a closer look at the latest news from the clinical-stage immuno-oncology company.
Did this drive the Imugene share price today?
The Imugene share price leapt higher today as the healthcare sector outperformed.
In fact, the stock's sector, represented by the S&P/ASX 200 Health Care Index (ASX: XHJ), was the only one in the green today. It closed 0.1% higher and was, perhaps unsurprisingly, led by Imugene.
The stock's movement comes one day after the company announced the first patient has been dosed in its phase 1 clinical trial of its cancer-killing oncolytic virus CF33-hNIS, Vaxinia.
The trial is the first time the virus has come up against tumours in humans.
It has previously been shown to shrink colon, lung, breast, ovarian, and pancreatic cancer tumours in preclinical laboratory and animal models.
The study is being run in partnership with City of Hope. That's the cancer treatment and research organisation that developed the virus. The study aims to recruit 100 patients across Australia and the United States.
The Imugene share price gained 3% yesterday. Though, the stock has notably underperformed throughout 2022 so far.
It is 53% lower than it was at the start of 2022. It has also fallen 50% since this time last year.
