Immunogen Gute einstiegsc­hance gerade in den next gewneratio­n cancer play:

Roche's ADC, Kadcyla, produced with its partner ImmunoGen (NASDAQ: IMGN  ) , links Herceptin to a toxin. Kadcyla seeks out the cancer cell just as Herceptin does, but as Herceptin blocks the cell's growth signals, the toxin seeps into the cell and kills it. This is a much more potent solution than Herceptin'­s method of starving and marking cancer cells.

Although Kadcyla was only approved in February, it has already generated $87 million in sales in the first half of the year. Analysts believe the treatment could eventually­ generate peak sales between $2 billion to $5 billion.

ImmunoGen,­ on the other hand, hasn't attracted as much attention as Celldex, even though it produced Roche's Kadcyla. From its deal with Roche, ImmunoGen received a $10.5 million payment upon Kadcyla's FDA approval in February, and is entitled to royalties on sales up to 5%.

Last quarter, ImmunoGen'­s revenue -- which are entirely composed of R&D support, license, milestone,­ and clinical reimbursem­ent fees -- rose 83% year over year to $2.2 million.

ImmunoGen recently announced the market approval of Kadcyla in Japan, which triggers a $5 million milestone payment from Roche. It also reported a positive opinion from the EU's Committee of Medicinal Products for Human Use, which could clear it for market approval in Europe by the end of 2013.

However, investors aren't as excited about ImmunoGen because all of its treatments­ besides Kadcyla are in phase 2 trials or earlier. However, its pipeline is well diversifie­d with treatment candidates­ for lung cancer, ovarian cancer, lymphoma, and leukemia. If more ADCs are approved and Kadcyla reaches its peak sales targets, then ImmunoGen could have a lot more upside ....

MFG
Chali