Immutep Ltd (ASX: IMM) shares are catching the eye on Thursday.
In morning trade, the ASX 300 stock is up 11% to 31 cents.
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Why is this ASX 300 stock rocketing?
Investors have been bidding the late-stage immunotherapy company's shares higher after it released an update on the INSIGHT-003 trial.
INSIGHT-003 is an investigator-initiated study conducted by the Frankfurt Institute of Clinical Cancer Research IKF. The study is evaluating a triple combination therapy in front-line non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients consisting of Efti administered subcutaneously in conjunction with Keytruda and chemotherapy delivered intravenously.
Efti is Immutep's proprietary soluble LAG-3 protein and MHC Class II agonist that stimulates both innate and adaptive immunity for the treatment of cancer.
According to the release, the company achieved a 60.8% response rate and 90.2% disease control rate as of the data-cut off date of 6 May 2025.
The ASX 300 stock highlights that ~92% of all evaluable patients have a programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) Tumor Proportion Score (TPS) <50%, including 43% with PD-L1 below 1 (TPS <1%), which represents an area of high unmet need.
It also notes that data demonstrates a significant improvement in response rates compared to historical controls, and safety continues to be favourable.
Rising confidence
The ASX 300 stock's CEO, Marc Voigt, was very pleased with the data and believes it could be driving a new standard of care. He commented:
Our level of confidence in efti driving a new standard of care for patients with non-small cell lung cancer via our pivotal TACTI-004 trial continues to rise with the strength of the data from INSIGHT-003 and TACTI-002. Across two trials we have now efficacy data from 165 patients with 1L NSCLC who have been treated with efti and KEYTRUDA, either with or without chemotherapy.
In multi-national settings, efti has generated consistent and remarkable improvements in response rates. In particular, the interim ORR data in patients with PD-L1 expression below 50% in the ongoing INSIGHT-003 trial, who represent over two thirds of the 1L NSCLC patient population, is very encouraging.
Additional data from INSIGHT-003 is planned for presentation at a medical conference later this year. Investors will no doubt be hoping that this data is equally positive.
Following today's gain, the ASX 300 stock is up 30% since this time last month. Though, it is still down by the same margin on a 12-month basis.
