Genprex shares rise after Noble Capital Markets repeats Outperform rating, $5 price target

Genprex Inc (NASDAQ:GNPX) shares got a boost Tuesday after analysts at Noble Capital Markets reiterated an Outperform rating and $5 price target, writing that its lead drug candidate “has the potential to become an effective add-on therapy for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).” The company is preparing an Investigational New Drug application and is planning Phase 1/2 trials for late 2020 of GEN-001 (Oncoprex) in combination with AstraZeneca's Tagrisso or Merck's Keytruda. Previous results showed a disease control rate of 78% in combination with Roche’s Tarceva. “We believe that Genprex's lead candidate medicine, GEN-001, has the potential to become an effective add-on therapy for the treatment of NSCLC,” Noble wrote. “In our view, positive results from GEN-001 ongoing programs could potentially act as a positive catalyst for the shares.” READ: Genprex shares soar as it strikes new worldwide license deal with MD Anderson for Oncoprex Genprex stock ticked up 1.2% to $2.78 on Tuesday afternoon. “We believe that Genprex will emerge as a leader in the area of gene therapy for the treatment of cancer,” Noble wrote. “Genprex is developing a unique platform technology consisting of the use of lipid nanoparticles designed to restore normal tumor suppressor protein levels in cancer cells to induce apoptosis (programmed cell death), inhibit tumor progression and prolong survival of cancer patients.” Additionally, Genprex is in preclinical development of a novel gene therapy approach for the treatment of type I and type II diabetes, GEN-002. The technology is designed to reprogram alpha cells in the pancreas to act as “beta-like cells,” which produce insulin, the firm noted. In theory, those “beta-like cells” could survive the autoimmune response of a Type 1 diabetic pancreas, which kills normal beta cells, thus eliminating insulin sensitivity. Reprogrammed alpha cells could therefore potentially reduce the need for insulin injections. Genprex is an Austin, Texas-based clinical-stage gene therapy company developing a new approach to treating cancer, based upon a novel proprietary technology platform, including its initial product candidate, Oncoprex, for non-small cell lung cancer. Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com Follow him on Twitter @andrew_kessel