Healthcare Execs Hail Sellas Life Sciences AML Drug as 'Game Changer'

Sellas Life Sciences (SLS) stock rose by 2% overnight on Sunday after several healthcare executives described its acute myeloid leukemia (AML) drug, galinpepimut-S (GPS), as a potential 'game changer' for AML patients.

The comments came in the context of a discussion on LinkedIn about personalized cancer vaccines and their potential to prevent cancer from returning. AstraZeneca sales executive Michael Anglestein called the Phase 3 Regal trial a 'game changer' for AML patients in their first or second complete remission, noting that the trial has been ongoing for over five years with minimal side effects.

Another medical-device industry executive, Rob Tomko, agreed, stating that GPS and Sellas' other clinical candidate, SLS009, would be 'game changers' for AML and potentially other cancers. A Johnson & Johnson product director, Michael Frascello, also called the combination of GPS and Regal a 'game changer for AML care', although his comment has since been deleted.

The key catalyst for Sellas is the ongoing Regal trial, which has recorded 78 of the required 80 events to trigger its final efficacy analysis. The company plans to announce the milestone before beginning database lock, review, statistical analysis, and unblinding. If GPS produces a median overall survival of 12.6 months, compared with eight months for the control arm, Regal will be considered successful.