TScan Therapeutics initiated with a Buy at Needham

Needham initiated coverage of TScan Therapeutics with a Buy rating and $11 price target. Despite the advent of T-cell-based therapeutics, the majority of commercial products target only a few cell-surface-expressed antigens, with most being employed in heme-onc, but TScan’s TCR-based therapeutics can potentially target over 90% of intracellular proteins, the analyst tells investors in a research note. TScan’s platform identifies novel pHLA/TCR pairs from CPI-responsive patients, which is a “key differentiating feature”, the firm states, adding that the company also intends to use multiple pHLA/TCR combinations to overcome the challenges of tumor heterogeneity and antigen loss.