TG Therapeutics Stock Rises 2% On Preclinical Data For Cancer Drug

TG Therapeutics Inc. shares rose 2.0% in afternoon trade Tuesday after the company presented preclinical data on its anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibody, part of a class of immunotherapy drugs that try to use the patient's immune system to fight cancer. The group of drugs is considered essential to any drugmaker developing an immuno-oncology portfolio. The antibody, CK-301, was found to block binding of PD-L1 to PD-1, which prevents the immune response, and its activity was similar to other anti-PD-L1s and worked similarly to Pfizer's avelumab, according to TG Therapeutics' presentation at the American Association for Cancer Research's annual meeting on Tuesday. CK-301 should begin a phase 1 clinical trial in humans this year, the company said. TG Therapeutics shares have surged 129.9% over the last three months, compared with a 3.8% rise in the S&P 500 .