Micromet's Latest to Clinical Trial

MT203 Advances into Clinical Trial Stage

Micromet (MITI) today announced the initiation of the first clinical trial for the anti-granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) human antibody MT203 by its collaboration partner Nycomed.

The study will investigate the safety and pharmacokinetics of MT203. GM-CSF has been shown to play a significant role in various autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Under a 2007 agreement between Micromet and Nycomed, the two companies are jointly developing MT203. Micromet has been primarily responsible for the non-clinical development of MT203, whereas Nycomed will be responsible for the clinical development and commercialization of MT203 going forward.

We recently moved to a Buy on the stock given expected news flow over the next 6 months related to clinical trial results of lead drug candidate MT103, which we view as representing potential share price catalysts.

We believe a rapid path to market is looking increasingly likely now for MT103, given final results of the current phase 2 ALL study during 3Q09, and management's recent flagging of a registration trial in 2010.

Read the full analyst report on MITI