Why ImmunoGen, Inc. Jumped Higher Today

Shares of ImmunoGen (NASDAQ: IMGN) closed up 12% as the American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting wraps up. The biotech presented over the weekend, which shouldn't be affecting the price of shares midweek, but perhaps investors have taken awhile to digest the data.

ImmunoGen presented data from a phase I trial testing IMGN779 in patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia. The purpose of the trial is to test ever-increasing doses to determine the best dose to take into a phase II trial.

So far, the company hasn't reached the maximum tolerated dose, but has already started to see anti-leukemia activity with 16 of 17 patients treated at a dose of 0.39 mg/kg showing a decrease in peripheral blasts -- leukemia cells in blood samples -- within 10 days after first dose. The median maximal decrease of peripheral blasts was 71%. Seven of the 17 patients had reductions of 48% to 96% in bone marrow blasts -- leukemia cells in the bone marrow -- and all of those had poor prognostic features suggesting they'd be hard to treat.

Source: Fool.com