Tyme Out-Licenses Cancer Candidate To Eagle Pharma, Stock Up

Shares of Tyme Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:TYME) rise 13% after itannounced a collaboration with Eagle Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:EGRX) to co-promote the investigational cancer treatment, oral SM-88, of the former in the United States. Shares of the company have slumped 40.4% in the past year against the industry’s growth of 0.2%.

SM-88 is Tyme’s lead pipeline cancer metabolism-based therapy (CMBT) candidate. It is a novel oral monotherapy and represents a novel therapeutic approach designed to selectively disrupt protein synthesis in cancer cells. The candidate has demonstrated tumor responses in different cancer types across multiple studies.

SM-88 is being evaluated in phase I and II studies for pancreatic, prostate and other cancers. Tyme has partnered with the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) to study SM-88 in an adaptive phase II/III study known as Precision Promise. In Precision Promise, SM-88 is being evaluated as second-line monotherapy and could expand to first-line combination therapy with standard of care.

A phase II investigator-initiated study evaluating SM-88 monotherapy in late-stage sarcomas is undergoing.

Per the agreement, Tyme will receive a $20-million upfront and an additional $20 million in milestone payments, if primary endpoints in a pivotal study in third-line metastatic pancreatic cancerare met or if SM-88 is approved for a cancer indication in the United States. The company will retain all commercial rights to SM-88 outside the United States and reserves the right to repurchase Eagle’s U.S. co-promotion right for $200 million in the future. TYME will also be responsible for the clinical development, regulatory approval, commercial strategy, marketing, reimbursement and manufacturing of SM-88.

Through the collaboration agreement, the companies may also evaluate oral SM-88 in combination therapy or as monotherapy by utilizing Eagle’s oncology pipeline and expertise in oncology settings.

The collaboration provides an opportunity for Tyme to expand its presence in the oncology space and evaluate potential combination opportunities with SM-88 in its existing pipeline. The partnership will also provide the company with commercial and capital resources required to fulfill this motive.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Tyme currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

A few better-ranked stocks in the medical drugs sector are Assertio Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASRT) and Corcept Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:CORT) . While Assertiosports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Corcept carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Assertio delivered a positive earnings surprise in the trailing four quarters by 26.88%, on average.

Corcept’s earnings per share estimates have increased from 76 cents to 77 cents for 2019 and from 96 cents to 98 cents for 2020 in the past 60 days. The company delivered a positive earnings surprise in the trailing four quarters by 20.02%, on average.

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