Merus’ Potential ‘Best-In-Class’ Cancer Treatment Bolsters MRUS Stock 30%

Merus (MRUS) stock soared on Friday after the clinical-stage oncology company released interim results from its ongoing Phase 2 trial of the bispecific antibody petosemtamab in combination with pembrolizumab. This treatment is in development for patients with certain types of head and neck cancer.

Positive interim results included:

• A median overall response rate of 63%
• Median progression-free survival of nine months
• A 12-month survival rate of 80%
• Median duration of response and median overall survival were not reached

Bill Lundberg, M.D., President, CEO of Merus, was incredibly optimistic about the interim clinical trial results. He stated, “By essentially every metric, we believe these interim data are significantly better than pembrolizumab monotherapy” and that petosemtamab has the opportunity to “become a new standard of care, if approved, in head and neck cancer.”

Analysts Update MRUS Stock Coverage

Two firms have updated their coverage of Merus stock after it posted the Phase 2 trial data.

• Five-star BMO Capital analyst Etzer Darout reiterated an Outperform rating and increased his price target to $110 from $96.
• Bank of America Securities analysts maintained a Buy rating and raised their MRUS stock price target to $92 from $70.

The Bank of America Securities analysts told clients that Merus’ new cancer drug could be “the best-in-class treatment option for this patient population.”

Today’s news boosted MRUS stock 30.54% and sparked heavy trading of 1.74 million shares, compared to a three-month daily average of 840,000 units. Investors will keep in mind that Merus stock is up 29.14% year-to-date but down 30.66% over the past year.

Is MRUS Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold?

Turning to Wall Street, the analysts’ consensus rating for Merus is Strong Buy, based on 15 Buy ratings over the last three months. With that comes an average MRUS stock price target of $88.58, representing a potential 63.46% upside for the shares.

See more MRUS stock analyst ratings