Vor Biopharma VOR, a clinical-stage company, announced dosing the first patient in its phase I/II study of VCAR33^ALLO for the treatment of relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

VCAR33^ALLO is Vor Bio’s transplant donor-derived CAR-T developmental therapy. Top-line results from the VBP301 study are expected in the second half of 2024.

The company further reported extending its cash runway into the second half of 2025 through an internal review and prioritization process. Vor Bio will continue to invest in its platform and clinical programs while strategically prioritizing late-stage programs and managing employee growth to preserve cash.

In response to the news, the company’s stock gained 7.4% on Jan 18, 2024. The share price further continued the upward trajectory during after-market hours. Over the past year, shares of VOR have plunged 55.9% compared with the industry’s 13.8% decline.

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The company believes that the dosing of the first patient in the phase I/II VBP301 first-in-human AML study is a significant milestone achievement as it demonstrates Vor Bio’s ability to successfully manufacture VCAR33^ALLO in its in-house manufacturing facility.

VCAR33^ALLO follows a novel therapeutic approach and is manufactured from lymphocytes collected from the patient’s original transplant donor, generating a CAR-T cell product, which exactly matches the recipient’s engrafted blood system.

The use of healthy transplant donor cells to manufacture VCAR33^ALLO allows the cell therapy to have a more stem-like phenotype. This leads to greater potential for expansion, persistence and anti-leukemia activity compared with existing autologous or allogeneic off-the-shelf products, which are derived from a patient’s own lymphocytes.

AML is the most common type of acute leukemia (blood cancer) in adults affecting 20,000 newly diagnosed patients each year in the United States. Patients diagnosed with AML face a very poor prognosis, given the fatal and aggressive nature of this blood cancer.

Vor Biopharma Inc. Price and Consensus

Vor Biopharma Inc. price-consensus-chart | Vor Biopharma Inc. Quote

Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider

Vor Bio currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked drug/biotech stocks worth mentioning are Puma Biotechnology, Inc. PBYI, ADMA Biologics ADMA and Acadia Pharmaceuticals ACAD. While PBYI and ADMA sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) each, ACAD carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.