It was a huge day for Cardiff Oncology (NASDAQ:CRDF). Not only did this biotech stock land some impressive new backing from one of the biggest firms in medicine, but it also forged ahead with a major new cancer treatment. That combination was enough to give Cardiff Oncology stock an extra 50% in the last minutes of Tuesday afternoon’s trading.
Cardiff Oncology managed to land some serious support for its development projects, as none other than Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) stepped in. Pfizer will be helping out on Cardiff’s onvansertib as a major treatment option for metastatic colorectal cancer. Pfizer’s Ignite program will be handling the brass tacks of the arrangement, lending support for two separate trials. One will measure standard-of-care both with and without onvansertib, and the other—should the first trial go well—will be a Phase 3 trial. Interim data is expected sometime in the middle of next year.
Pfizer also added an equity investment, which is good news for Cardiff Oncology. Reports from last May suggested that Cardiff didn’t have sufficient cash runway to make it through the phase 2 study, let alone actually getting its flagship drug to market. However, with Pfizer’s backing, that should go a long way toward helping Cardiff hold out until it can get onvansertib in patients’ hands. And with no ongoing clinical trials, nor treatments approved in the last 20 years, Cardiff will have first-mover advantage for some time to come. Assuming, of course, the tests go according to plan.
A look at the last five days of trading for Cardiff shows what a vital development this was. Just before this news hit, shares were down around $1.56, which left Cardiff Oncology stock dangerously exposed to going below $1 per share. The news of Pfizer’s involvement left that danger a moot point, but it failed to hang on to all the gains it made over the course of Tuesday’s trading.
