TooNiceStocks Initiates Coverage On YM BioSciences Inc. Digging Deeper Into The Bullish Sentiment And Upcoming Catalyst In Early June 2011

TooNiceStocks research has unveiled YM Biosciences Inc. has been the focus of attention from retail to institutional investors. TooNiceStocks found Institutional holdings currently accounts for 43% of the approximately 110 million outstanding shares. This shows the confidence in the company's pipeline specifically CYT387, for the treatment of Myelofibrosis. Myelofibrosis is a proliferation of an abnormal type of bone morrow stem cell producing collagenous connective tissue fiber replacing the marrow caused by a dysregulation in the JAK signaling pathway. The importance of CYT387 can be inferred from its Orphan Status Designation granted by the U.S. Federal Drug Administration. YM BioSciences Inc. plans to present CYT387 multi-center interim Phase I/II data at the American Society of Clinical Oncology early June 2011.

Digging deeper into YM BioSciences Inc. bullish investor interest:

TooNiceStocks discovered that the company has 3 drug candidates in their pipeline all with multiple applications to various diseases. In this article, the focus will be on CYT387. The lack of approved drug treatment and with an estimated Myelofibrosis market of $200-$300M will incentivize companies to pursue this avenue of research. TargeGen, S*BIO, and Incyte are all currently developing drugs for Myelofibrosis. Although there are numerous companies conducting similar research, Incyte's INCB018424 is the closest competitor in terms of mechanistic targeting of both JAK1 and JAK2 proteins. Comparative analysis between the two drugs demonstrates CYT387 has the distinct competitive advantage, in efficacy. While both drugs have similar efficacy in alleviating constitutional symptoms, the important clinical improvements in Splenomegaly and Amenia data favors CYT387. INCB018424's clinical improvement of Splenomegaly was 44% (61 of 140 patients) with 35% reduction in spleen volume versus CYT387's 37% (11 of 30 patients) with greater than 50% decrease in spleen size. Anemia response rate for INCB018424 showed 14% (4 of 28 patients) versus CYT387's 41% (9 of 22 patients). 1 Although the data suggest CYT387 to have a higher efficacy, due to the low sample size of 39 patients the data should be interpreted within context. Nevertheless, the results are amply promising for YM BioSciences to expand Phase II enrollment to 140 patients. If the significant clinical improvement in present data is a harbinger of future results, YM BioSciences will likely present positive data at the ASCO 2011 further validating CYT387 potency.