Sept 3 (Reuters) – Transgene shares surged 20% in early Paris trading on Thursday, after the French biotechnology company reported positive Phase 1 trial data on its vaccine candidate for head and neck cancer.
Investors have rewarded encouraging data from other personalised cancer-vaccine programmes as well: Moderna shares more than doubled after its melanoma vaccine data showed a reduction in the risk of recurrence or death.
• TG4050 is an individualised vaccine developed with Japan’s NEC Corp, whose AI technology selects patient-specific tumour targets, for patients with high-risk head and neck cancer after surgery and chemoradiotherapy.
• All 16 patients treated with TG4050 remained disease-free, versus three relapses among 16 patients in the control arm, Transgene said on Wednesday.
• Kempen analyst Chiara Montironi said the longer follow-up provided a “robust dataset” supporting TG4050’s potential to prevent relapse, which would support the stock.
• The study’s authors noted that the small number of patients and events is insufficient to establish a statistically significant benefit.
• Transgene expects Phase 2 immunological data in the second half of 2026 and two-year efficacy data in the first quarter of 2028.
(Reporting by Lucie Barbier in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
