Kite Pharma’s Shares Surge Following Positive Cancer Drug Test Results

August 26, 2014 | Following positive results in testing of Kite Pharma‘s cancer drug, the company’s shares surged 29 percent to $28.70 per share in after-hours trading. The results of the study on 15 patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, or blood cancer, were very positive, with 8 patients in complete remission and four others in partial remission. The company now plans to file and investigational new drug application in order to launch the clinical trail of the drug KTE-C19 for the treatment of blood cancers. The current trial was conducted by Kite Pharma and funded in part by the National Cancer Institute of America. Kite Pharma was founded in 2009 by Arie Belldegrun, an Israeli-American oncologist, specializing in developing therapies that use the patient’s immune system to treat cancer.