There's been an odd reaction to some encouraging news from Scancell Holdings PLC (AIM:SCLP, OTC:SCNLF), with the shares barely flickering this week.
The company updated the market with more supportive data from a trial of its drug for people with hard-to-treat melanoma, a common skin cancer.
Panmure Liberum said it hopped on a call after the latest stats drop and left the conversation extremely heartened by the feedback.
Scancell gave a broad-brush overview of plans for its lead asset iSCIB1+, which is being readied for a phase III trial. This is the final hurdle before approval, although it tends to be a clinically arduous and expensive process, particularly for smaller research and development firms.
That stage, however, is also when interest from big pharma tends to crystallise into investment, with deep-pocketed blue-chips often picking up the bill to push a promising drug towards sign-off.
Value building
Deals tend to come in the form of licensing agreements where upfront and milestone payments are agreed, and in certain cases, these can prove transformational.
Panmure, in its note, was not getting too carried away but told clients: “Significant value is building, with the potential to crystallise in the near term if a partnership is concluded.”
The broker is a buyer of the stock up to 32p. The current price is less than a third of that target.