Infinity Pharmaceuticals Focuses On Lead Candidate IPI-549

We issued an updated report on Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:INFI) on Apr 7.

Infinity’s share price shows that the company has outperformed the Zacks classified Medical Drugs industry year to date. The stock rose 79.3% compared with the industry’s gain of 0.2%.

The company is currently focused on the development of its lead immuno-oncology candidate, IPI-549. In Nov 2016, it had entered into a clinical trial collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) to evaluate IPI-549 in combination with the latter’s checkpoint inhibitor Opdivo in patients with advanced solid tumors. Once the dose-escalation phase on the combination is complete, an expansion phase will evaluate the combination in patients with selected solid tumors, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) in the second half of 2017. In 2017, Infinity plans to report phase I data from the monotherapy dose-escalation phase and the IPI-549 plus Opdivo dose-escalation phase.

In fact, Infinity’s progress with IPI-549 has been impressive. Moreover, clinical trial collaboration with Bristol-Myers has provided the company with a strong partner with expertise in the field of immuno-oncology. In addition, it is likely to allow Infinity to expedite the development of IPI-549.

In Oct 2016, the company entered into a license agreement with Verastem under which it granted exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize its oncology candidate duvelisib to the latter. The agreement will see Infinity receiving up to $28 million across two milestone payments – $6 million upon positive data (currently anticipated in the first half of 2017) from the randomized monotherapy phase III DUO study in patients with relapsed/refractory CLL and $22 million upon the first regulatory approval of duvelisib inside or outside of the U.S. In addition, Infinity is eligible to receive tiered mid-to-high single-digit royalties on net sales of duvelisib, subject to approval. It will also be responsible for the royalties on net sales of duvelisib owed by the company to Mundipharma International Corporation and Purdue Pharmaceutical. Overall, we are optimistic about the deal as it is expected to provide Infinity with much needed funds.

In fact, Infinity has undergone a total of four restructuring drives since Jun 2016. This, in turn, has led to reduction of its employee headcount by an aggregate of 174 positions, representing approximately 79% from the Dec 31, 2015. The company also announced that it will grant the rights to develop and commercialize duvelisib to Verastem. The company is also evaluating its current facility leases.

But besides IPI-549, Infinity has no approved product in its portfolio at the moment. This has led the company to totally depend on this particular candidate for growth. Consequently, too much focus on the successful development and approval of only one candidate might result in regulatory setbacks related to IPI-549.

Currently, Infinity faces stiff competition in the fields of immuno-oncology from companies like Bristol-Myers, AstraZeneca Plc (NYSE:AZN) , Celgene (NASDAQ:CELG), Merck (NYSE:MRK), Novartis, Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), Roche and Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) among others.

Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Price

Zacks Rank

Infinity currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

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