CytoMed (NASDAQ: GDTC) stock is up 100%. The rise in GDTC stock seems to be coming from the award of a patent. This is a very silly idea, quite ridiculous. Of course, it's just great for those who were holding the stock when the price started to rise but that means it's an interesting trading opportunity. And we'd not suggest that the direction of travel is going to be continually upward. For to think so is to miss, entirely, where a patent comes in the medical development process.
What's actually done at CytoMed: “CytoMed Therapeutics Limited, a pre-clinical biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing novel cell-based immunotherapies for the treatment of human cancers in Malaysia and Singapore. Its lead product candidate is CTM-N2D, which is in Phase I clinical trials comprising expanded gamma delta T cells grafted with natural killer group 2D ligands-targeting chimeric antigen receptor to improve anti-cancer cytotoxicity.” OK, that's great, we all hope they prove it works before our own cancers kick in. But this does mean that we're firmly in the pharma development sphere and that means understanding how this sector works.
CytoMed Therapeutics stock price from NASDAQ
The announcement was for GDTC: “CytoMed Therapeutics Limited, a Singapore-based biopharma company focused on novel donor cell-based immunotherapies for the treatment of various cancers, has announced that its CAR-gamma delta T cell (CAR-γδ T cell) technology, which it has licensed from A*STAR, has been granted a patent by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).” That's great, we're all really happy for them. And no, there are no other CytoMed announcements to explain the stock price change.
But here's the thing. Patent grants come at the beginning of the drug or treatment testing process. Sure, it's great to have one - but there's no evidence this works at all yet. Because that's how the system works. Find something that might be worth testing then apply for the patent. Maybe a year later the patent will be granted. But there's still some 5 to 10 years of testing to do before anything can be put on sale. Phase I, Phase II, Phase III tests before the FDA will even look at authorisation.
The GDTC stock price reaction to this patent is as if the drug had been shown to work and was about to start producing revenue. Nope, we're at the other end of the process - the patent comes first before the testing process really starts.
We rate this rise in the CytoMed stock price as being too early, years too early in fact. The grant of a patent is the beginning of the process, not the end.
