Hopkinton startup drugmaker Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals opened Monday trading up more than 5% after the company said it submitted an application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a new cancer treatment.
That treatment, for which an Investigation New Drug application was filed, is the company’s intravenously administered STimulator of INterferon Gene (STING), to prevent tumors from growing.
The filing will initiate a Phase 1 trial to evaluate the safety, tolerability and anti-tumor activity in patients with advanced solid tumors. If approved, top-line results could be announced by the middle of 2020.
In a statement, President and CEO Martin Driscoll commented on the company’s 2019 progress, saying the company’s stock is undervalued.
As of 11 a.m. Monday, shares of the company’s stock were trading for $3.90, giving the company a market cap of $63.8 million.
The company is developing a treatment for chronic hepatitis B virus, inarigivir, which it called its lead product candidate.
