Autolus Therapeutics PLC (NASDAQ: AUTL) stock price rallied 30% after it emerged that the Blackstone Group intends to invest $250 million in the company.
The investment manager will invest $150 million into developing obecabtagene autoleucel, a cell therapy that treats acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
Autolus is set to receive the first instalment of $50 million at the start, with the rest of the money being disbursed as milestone payments.
Investors cheered the announcement, as evidenced by today’s premarket rally. The funds will allow Autolus to complete the development phase and commercialise the treatment.
The Blackstone Group will invest the remaining $100 million in Autolus shares and receive a seat on the company’s board.
The alternative investment manager is set to recoup its investment via royalty payments after the leukaemia drug is commercialised in the future.
Autolus reported its third-quarter results last week on Wednesday to a positive response from investors.
Dr Christian Itin, Autolus Therapeutics’ CEO, said: “We continue to make good progress on the clinical evaluation of obe-cel in the Phase 2 portion of the FELIX study and remain on track to deliver primary endpoint data in the middle of 2022. We are also pleased to update that the response rate and safety data from patients in the multi-center Phase 1b cohort are consistent with the data reported from the academic ALLCAR19 study of obe-cel in relapsed/refractory adult B-acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL),”
Investors were pleased to see the biopharmaceutical company’s clinical trials progressing well, as evidenced by the surge higher.
From a technical perspective, I would not buy Autolus shares following today’s rally, which leaves them trading near their September highs of $7.53. Instead, I would wait for a significant pullback before jumping in, given that the leukaemia drug is still far from reaching commercial stages.
*This is not investment advice. Always do your due diligence before making investment decisions.
Autolus Therapeutics stock price.
Autolus Therapeutics stock price rallied 30% to trade at $7.25, rising from Friday’s closing price of $5.56.
Should You Invest in Autolus Therapeutics Shares?
One of the most frequently asked questions we receive is, “what stocks are best to buy right now?” It's a wide-ranging question, but one that we have answered… Our AskTraders stock analysts regularly review the market and compile a list of which companies you should be adding to your portfolio, including short and longer-term positions. Here are the best stocks to buy right now.
