Good news on the development of liver cancer treatment has caused the biotech stock Tempest to skyrocket 40 times in a single day.
Tempest stated that when the drug TPST-1120 is used in combination with two drugs from Roche, the disease-free survival period of patients with unresectable liver cell carcinoma is significantly improved. Compared to patients who only use Roche drugs, the disease-free survival time is increased by more than 60%.
After the release of the latest research progress in the treatment of liver cancer, the stock price of Tempest Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company in the United States, skyrocketed.
On Wednesday, October 11th, Tempest (TPST) opened significantly higher, up nearly 788%, and the increase continued to expand. At the close, the increase exceeded 3970%, nearly 40 times in a day. As of the close on Wednesday, Tempest's stock price has accumulated a rise of about 750% this year, while the S&P 500 has risen about 14% during the same period.
Earlier on Wednesday, Tempest announced that its investigational drug TPST-1120, when used in combination with Roche's two therapeutic drugs Tecentriq and Avastin, demonstrated clinical superiority in first-line treatment for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (uHCC), a common type of liver cancer.
Tempest stated that after receiving the combination therapy of the three drugs mentioned above, the median progression-free survival (PFS) of uHCC patients was 7 months, while the median PFS of uHCC patients who only received the combination therapy of Tecentriq and Avastin was 4.3 months. Based on this estimation, the duration of disease-free survival for patients increased by more than 60%.
The above trial results were obtained from 40 patients randomly assigned to the TPST-1120 and the two Roche drug combination therapy group, with an expected control group of 30 patients for comparison. The median follow-up duration for these patients was 9.2 months and 9.9 months, respectively.
Hepatocellular carcinoma is an invasive cancer, and researchers predict that by 2030, it will become the third leading cause of death from cancer.
On the same day, Tempest also announced a so-called poison pill plan regarding shareholder rights, which allows shareholders to exercise their rights only when an external entity proposes to acquire 10% or more of the company's outstanding common stock.
Tempest stated that the above plan is not intended to address any specific acquisition threat, but rather aims to "realize the long-term value of our investments for all shareholders."