Protara Therapeutics Stock Doubles On Promising Bladder Cancer Trial Data: Retail Buzz Spikes

Shares of Protara Therapeutics Inc. skyrocketed over 100% on Thursday afternoon, reaching levels last seen in January 2022 amid a trading volume over 540 times the daily average.

The clinical-stage company unveiled promising results from its ongoing Phase 2 ADVANCED-2 trial for its investigational cell-based therapy, TARA-002.

The trial evaluates TARA-002 for high-risk Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer (NMIBC) in patients with carcinoma in situ (CIS) who are either Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG)-Unresponsive or BCG-Naive. Highlights from the study include:

• A complete response (CR) rate of 72% at six months and 70% at any time during the trial.

• 100% of patients with CR at three months maintained it through six months.

• Two out of three patients maintained a CR at nine months.

Adverse events were generally mild, with no discontinuations due to treatment-related side effects. The most common issues, such as flu-like symptoms or bladder irritation, were consistent with responses to bacterial immunotherapy and typically resolved within hours or days.

The data will be presented during a poster session at the 25th Annual Meeting of the Society of Urologic Oncology in Dallas, Texas, the company said.

"We are thrilled with these positive six-month data, which reinforce TARA-002's potential in NMIBC, while offering a compelling product profile for physicians and patients," said Jesse Shefferman, Chief Executive Officer of Protara Therapeutics. 

"We believe these encouraging data together with our international site expansion will accelerate patient enrollment, and we look forward to reporting initial data from 12-month evaluable patients in mid-2025."

Retail sentiment for TARA turned ‘extremely bullish’ on Stocktwits, with the ticker trending in the top 10 symbols by Thursday afternoon. 

Retail chatter on the stock has increased by 2,100% over the past year, with follower count growing by nearly 4%.

Protara shares have surged almost 230% year-to-date, significantly outperforming broader market indices.

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