Marker Therapeutics Inc (MRKR)

[microcapbiotech]

Comments (gleaned info) about/from March 28 biz update.

It was said that about one month from March 28 (about now), MRKR was having a FDA meeting concerning Pre-IND (investigational new drug) application, and with post transplant AML there was virtually no other available therapy so for those in the study who do not get the MRKR therapy, they would get "standard of care" which would be nothing more than "observation", in other words "nothing".
If that is the case, then efficacy or positive results compared to "observation" or "nothing" should be a pretty easy endpoint to beat by a mile I would think.

Concerning the pancreatic trial info that was going to be presented at ASCO, two observations.
First, even though there are 30 patients enrolled, at ASCO they only would have presented data from just a few patients because the patients have to progress along timewise before they can have any meaningful data to present, ie: six rounds of chemo or whatever, so it may just be better off that they missed ASCO and present/release that data in a few months when they have a larger patient base to report on.

Also, something was said in a round about way that I think was telling.
It was asked, why the pancreatic patients increased so quickly over a short period of time from December.
Although it was really not answered directly, it was said that MultiTAA is not as well known as CAR-T (bad for now), but it was also said that patients and clinicians (Doctors) tend to be well read and informed and when they get a hint or whiff of efficacy or success, they gravitate toward that efficacy.
So it would seem that there was a whiff of success in the MRKR pancreatic trial that got out to clinicians (good).

One more bit of info that was said about solid tumors and other cancers.
For CAR-T and other non-MRKR therapies, it can take a year or more and a lot of money to develop a new approach or let's say a new medicine to start a trial for.
MRKR said that although for Multi-TAA it might take a month, for solid tumors and other cancers it would take MRKR NO TIME AT ALL because all the pre-clinical work has ALREADY BEEN DONE to add several more peptide antigens to their current therapy, and they can add/increase from five up to eleven antigens to expand their target repertoire for other possible cancer targets, and they said they can "do that today if they choose to".

So having said all of that, WHY are there 4 million shares shorted ???

https://www.markertherapeutics.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/MarkerTherapeutics_20190328_500PME.mp3