The Imugene Ltd (ASX: IMU) share price is soaring higher on the market today.
After surging 6% higher in early trade, the Imugene share price is currently up 4.55%, trading at 17.25 cents. For perspective, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is up 0.72% at the time of writing.
Let's take a look at what the ASX biotech share reported to the market.
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Clinical trial update
Imugene shares are charging higher today following a clinical trial update. The company advised it has now dosed the first patient in the intratumoral (IT) cohort two of its Vaxinia trial.
Vaxinia is a novel cancer-killing virus (CF33-hNIS) developed by the City of Hope in the USA. The virus has been previously shown to shrink lung, breast, ovarian, pancreatic and colon cancer tumours in preclinical lab and animal models.
In September, Imugene advised the first patient in the intravenous cohort one of the trial had been dosed.
Phase one of the trial so far has so far provided a low dose to patients with metastatic or advanced solid tumours. These patients have all had two or more prior lines of standard-of-care treatment.
Commenting on today's news, CEO and managing director Leslie Chong said:
The Vaxinia trial continues to progress on schedule and we're very excited to see the results it can deliver for these patients dealing with significant tumour growth.
The company said the trial would continue for about two years with funding from existing cash reserves and resources.
Share price snapshot
The Imugene share price has dropped almost 67% in the 12 months and is down 60% year to date.
For perspective, the ASX 200 index has shed 7.4% in the last year.
Imugene has a market capitalisation of about $1.1 billion based on the current share price.
