Adaptimmune Therapeutics PLC (ADAP)

[Watts Watt]

From Motley Fool on June 21, 2021:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/topstocks/2-biotech-penny-stocks-that-are-vastly-superior-investments-to-dogecoin/ar-AALh8Ny?ocid=BingNewsSearch

Adaptimmune: The cutting edge of cancer care
While adoptive T-cell therapies have transformed the treatment paradigm for several types of liquid tumors, their utility in the solid tumor setting has so far been underwhelming. Adaptimmune, a small-cap immuntherapy company, is hoping to reverse this unfortunate situation with its SPEAR (Specific Peptide Enhanced Affinity Receptor) platform.


Last month, the company took a major step toward achieving this lofty goal by releasing mid-stage trial data for its lead product candidate known as afamitresgene autoleucel, or afami-cel for short. The main headline from this top-line data release is that afami-cel reportedly shrank tumors in a respectable 41.4% of heavily pre-treated patients with synovial sarcoma, a relatively uncommon type of soft tissue cancer.

Armed with these encouraging preliminary data, and with more data on the way, Adaptimmune is gearing up for its first regulatory filing for afami-cel as a treatment for advanced synovial sarcoma in 2022. Meanwhile, the biotech also has plans to expand into several additional solid tumor types, such as liver, lung, and head and neck cancers.

Why is Adaptimmune an intriguing growth play? First and foremost, the company's current market cap of $614 million pales in comparison to the value of its solid tumor pipeline as a whole. The market, in effect, is giving the company next to no chance at grabbing more than one minor indication within the next three years, despite these stellar top-line data in synovial sarcoma.

Secondly, the market is arguably undervaluing Adaptimmune's prospects as a buyout candidate. Big pharma could become keenly interested in the biotech's novel platform if afami-cel gets a green light from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) next year.

Adaptimmune probably shouldn't be in penny-stock territory based on the steady progress of its unique cancer pipeline. So while patience may be required with this unloved biotech stock, Adaptimmune clearly ticks several boxes prized by value and growth investors alike.