Shares of Sellas Life Sciences Group Inc. (NASDAQ:SLS) nosedived by 16.6 percent in the third quarter of the year—from $14.76 on June 30 to $12.31 on Wednesday—as sentiment was dragged down by the delays and uncertainties surrounding the clinical results of its treatment candidate for acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
In Wednesday’s trading alone, the stock was up by 6.95 percent, primarily driven by third-quarter window-dressing.
The company has promised to report data from the phase 3 study of its Galinpepimut-S (GPS) treatment candidate as soon as it reaches the 80th patient death—its pre-specified event needed to determine whether it actually made a meaningful improvement in terms of overall survival versus the placebo.
However, a Germany-based news site claimed that Sellas Life Sciences Group Inc. (NASDAQ:SLS) had already reached the targeted number, yet it remained mum about the report.Based on its latest update on August 11, the study had already reached its 78th patient death.
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SLS009 Data
Last week, the company presented new clinical data for its highly selective cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (CDK9) inhibitor, SLS009, in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).
Based on its key findings, SLS009 was better at killing cancer cells even in those that had already developed resistance to daraxonrasib, at 17.9 percent versus only 2.8% for the latter.
Necrosis—the premature and unprogrammed death of cells and living tissue in the body—also showed that SLS009 caused 14.5 percent of cells to die, as compared with daraxonrasib’s 2.7 percent.
Wider Q2 Losses
Clinical trials aside, Sellas Life Sciences (NASDAQ:SLS) reported a 45.5 percent wider net loss in the second quarter of the year, at $9.6 million versus $6.6 million in the same period last year.
It has yet to realize any sales, being currently a pre-revenue company.
Operating expenses increased by 54 percent to $10.6 million from $6.87 million year-on-year.
Strong Hedge Fund Positioning
Institutional investors signaled their strong optimism for Sellas Life Sciences Group Inc. (NASDAQ:SLS), as evidenced by the nearly sixfold increase in committed capital in the second quarter of the year.
Data from Insider Monkey showed that during the period, 13 hedge funds held positions in the stock, unchanged from the previous quarter. However, their combined holdings soared by 490 percent to $79.7 million from $13.49 million quarter-on-quarter.
Currently, Anson Investments is the stock’s largest hedge fund investor with a stake valued at $66.4 million, closely followed by Citadel Investment with $64.16 million.