Here's Why Immune Design Should Be In Your Portfolio Now

On Nov 18, 2016, we issued an updated report on Immune Design Corp. (NASDAQ:IMDZ) .

Immune Design posted a narrower-than-expected loss in the third quarter while its revenues beat estimates. The top line also improved year over year on the back of milestone payments received under Immune Design’s collaboration with Sanofi (NYSE:SNY) for the development and commercialization of products for the treatment of peanut allergy. The company reported third-quarter results on Nov 9, 2016.

Immune Design’s progress on its pipeline has been quite impressive. The company is currently developing several candidates in the field of immuno-oncology using its ZVex and GLAAS platforms. The key products under development include CMB305 and G100. CMB305 is being evaluated for the treatment of soft tissue sarcoma while G100 is being developed for the treatment of Merkel-cell carcinoma (MCC) and follicular non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). The comany has a collaboration with Merck (NYSE:MRK) for evaluating G100 in combination with the latter’s anti-PD-1 agent, Keytruda, for the treatment of NHL. Although Immune Design primarily focuses on the development of cancer immunotherapies, it is also making efforts to develop treatments for non-oncology diseases.

Moreover, the company has entered into strategic agreements with other big players like Roche Holding (SIX:ROG) AG (OTC:RHHBY) and AstraZeneca PLC (NYSE:AZN) , which not only validate its GLAAS platform, but also provide the company with funds in the form of collaboration and license revenues.

However, Immune Design is highly dependent on its collaboration partners for its revenues. Since, its revenues mainly comprise fees from collaboration and licensing agreements, excessive dependence on other companies for revenue growth increases its vulnerability. Moreover, the company has been seeing an increase in expenses due to the ongoing R&D programs.

Also, most Immune Design’s pipeline candidates are in the early stages of development and consequently several years away from commercialization.

Zacks Rank

Immune Design currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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