Pieris'  shares were up almost 8% after it announced that it will receive an undisclosed milestone payment from partner Boston Pharmaceuticals related to its pipeline candidate, BOS-342 (formerly PRS-342). The payment was triggered by Boston Pharmaceuticals, initiating a phase I/II study on BOS-342 by dosing the first patient with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

The candidate is a 4-1BB/GPC3 immuno-oncology antibody-Anticalin fusion, designed to enhance the body's immune response against tumors. It was discovered by Pieris and out-licensed to Boston Pharma in April 2021 for an upfront payment of $10 million. In addition, Boston Pharmaceuticals is entitled to make future development, regulatory, and sales-based milestone payments of up to $350 million to Pieris as well as tiered royalties on sales of BOS-342.

The early-to-mid-stage study aims to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and efficacy of BOS-342. The phase I portion of the study is a dose escalation study that is enrolling patients with HCC who have progressed after receiving at least one prior treatment. Boston Pharmaceuticals is conducting the study.

Shares of Pieris have nosedived 75% year to date compared with the industry’s 13.7% decline.

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HCC is a common type of liver cancer and is particularly difficult to treat using standard treatment methods. In the pre-clinical studies, BOS-342 has shown significant potential in enhancing the body's immune response against tumors.

PIRS’ shares also soared last month, as the company announced its intention to pursue strategic alternatives. These strategic alternatives include a potential sale, merger, divestiture of assets, licensing or other strategic transaction, as well as executing new or expanded partnerships to advance its therapeutic programs — cinrebafusp alfa (PRS-343), PRS-220 and PRS-400.

These strategic initiatives will enable Pieris to optimize its capacity to pursue various transactions within its respiratory and immuno-oncology divisions, as well as its discovery platform.

Zacks Rank & Other Stocks to Consider

Pieris currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Some other top-ranked stocks in the same industry are Emergent Biosolutions (EBS Quick QuoteEBS - Free Report) , Annovis Bio (ANVS Quick QuoteANVS - Free Report) and Corcept Therapeutics (CORT Quick QuoteCORT - Free Report) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

In the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for Emergent Biosolutions has widened from a loss of $1.32 per share to a loss of $1.35 for 2023. The bottom-line estimate has gone down from $2.06 to $1.06 for 2024 during the same time frame. Shares of the company have lost 56.6% year to date.

EBS’ earnings missed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, delivering an average negative surprise of 577.88%.  

In the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for Annovis Bio has narrowed from a loss of $4.89 per share to a loss of $4.79 for 2023. The bottom-line estimate has narrowed from a loss of $3.18 to $3.04 for 2024 during the same time frame. Shares of the company have lost 4.9% year to date.

ANVS’ earnings beat estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed the mark in one, delivering an average surprise of 13.40%.

In the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for Corcept’s earnings has gone up from 66 cents per share to 75 cents for 2023. The bottom-line estimate has also improved from 64 cents to 81 cents for 2024 during the same time frame. Shares of the company have rallied 50.2% year to date.

CORT’s earnings beat estimates in two of the trailing four quarters and missed the mark in the other two, delivering an average surprise of 6.99%.