ASX All Ords stock Immutep Ltd (ASX: IMM) has underperformed the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) this past year.
Over the last 12 months, Immutep shares have gained just under 5%. That compares to an almost 18% gain posted by the All Ords over this same period.
Though that underperformance could change if the biotech company achieves further successes with its cancer treatment trials. Or, if the ASX All Ords stock becomes a takeover target in 2025.
Is Immutep a likely takeover candidate for 2025?
Asked which company in his portfolio could be an acquisition target, Antares Equities' portfolio manager, Andrew Hamilton, named Immutep (courtesy of The Australian Financial Review).
Hamilton said the ASX All Ords stock's "key asset is Efti, an immunotherapy drug with a unique mechanism of action that theoretically makes it highly synergistic with other immunotherapies as well as with chemotherapy and radiotherapy".
He noted that Efti "has had a succession of very strong data in a number of different types of cancers including lung cancer, head and neck cancer and breast cancer".
So, why does this make the ASX All Ords stock a potential takeover target?
According to Hamilton:
When used in combination with Merck's Keytruda, the world's biggest-selling drug last year with sales of US$25 billion, Efti appears to double the number of patients for whom Keytruda is beneficial.
Efti's patents extend to the mid-2030s whereas Keytruda's patent in the US expires in 2028, at which time Merck will face much cheaper generic competition eroding sales of a drug that makes up 40% of their total revenue.
But it's not just Merck. Many of the largest global drug companies are facing significant patent cliffs before 2030 which, we think, makes a drug with Efti's enormous potential revenue and quality data very appealing.
What's the latest from the ASX All Ords stock and Efti?
The most recent trial updates on Immutep's eftilagimod alpha product (Efti) were released on 14 November.
At the time, the ASX All Ords stock announced positive data from its Phase I trial evaluating Efti used in combination with pembrolizumab and chemotherapy for first-line treatment of metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer patients.
Project lead Salah-Eddin Al-Batran called the trial results "very encouraging".
According to Al-Batran:
The strength of these mature survival results coupled with a favourable safety profile in first-line treatment of patients with non-squamous NSCLC, the vast majority of whom have negative or low PD-L1 expression, is very encouraging.
On the same day, Immutep updated the market on its Phase II trial of Efti, which was used in combination with radiotherapy and pembrolizumab for patients with soft tissue sarcoma.
Management noted that preliminary analysis of the 21 patients available for primary endpoint assessment showed that "the triple combination therapy demonstrates significant efficacy in the neoadjuvant setting for resectable STS".
The ASX All Ords stock closed up 9.7% on the day.
