Dallas, Texas 11/25/2013 (Financialstrend) – Biotech firm Galena Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ:GALE) has been another development stage drug designer which along with its peer Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA) saw its share price shoot through the roof during November 22 trading. Both small capped firms are into the development of drugs which are designed to treat various forms of cancers. But unlike Ariad, Galena Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ:GALE) has been a consistent favourite among the investors and the market analysts. In posted a 14% increase during trading on the last trading day of the week which has taken its share price well past its prior 52 week high price of $3.54. When trading ended on Friday, the share price had settled at an even $4. This translates to a 139% increase in the valuation of the firm in the past 12 months.
The added impetus to the valuation of Galena Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ:GALE) was caused by positive results that have emerged from phase 1 trials of its target biotech compound “Folate Binding Protein (FBP)”. This bio engineered protein has found to contain immunological strengths against various know forms of ovarian cancer cells. This was disclosed by the firm on the side lines of “Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Conference 2013” earlier this month. The tests were conducted on patients who had fully recovered from ovarian cancer from already approved treatment methods.
The company disclosed that it is expected to initiate Phase 2 trials of the target compound in the last month of this year. Commenting about the initial results and its future potential, Dr Erika Schneble who presented the trial findings has been quoted as saying, “New approaches are needed for ovarian and endometrial cancer patients who face a high risk of disease recurrence. The initial results from the Phase 1 trial show that the FBP vaccine may be a potential cancer immunotherapy treatment to prevent recurrence in these high risk patient populations.”