Xencor jumps after announcing four new XmAb programs

Xencor earlier today announced four new XmAb programs in development for the treatment of patients with autoimmune diseases and provided updates from dose-escalation studies evaluating its oncology programs, including XmAb819 in patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma and XmAb808 in patients with advanced solid tumors. XmAb819 is designed to engage the immune system, activating T cells for highly potent and targeted killing of tumor cells expressing ENPP3, an antigen highly expressed on kidney cancers, the company said in a statement. It added that initial evidence of anti-tumor activity has been observed in recent dose-escalation cohorts in the ongoing Phase 1 study. Xencor continues to anticipate reaching target dose levels by year end and plans to provide a clinical update around initiation of the first dose expansion cohort during the first half of 2025. On XmAb808, the company said the majority of patients enrolled into the ongoing Phase 1 dose-escalation study are men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. In this group of patients, prostate specific antigen declines have been observed during the four-week monotherapy safety run-in period. It continues to anticipate reaching target dose levels by year end and plans to provide a clinical update around initiation of dose expansion cohorts during the first half of 2025. Shares of Xencor are up 18%, or $2.93, to $19.11 in late morning trading.