Summit Therapeutics’ shares climbed 1.1% in pre-market trading on Tuesday, lifting the stock to $12.87, as Bernstein Société Générale upgraded the company to Market Perform from Underperform.
The upgrade follows a price target increase to $11.90 from $9.80, though the new target remains below the current trading price. Bernstein also assigned a 35% probability of technical success for the ILLUMINE Phase 3 trial of ivonescimab, Summit’s late-stage drug candidate.
The analyst note incorporated incremental risk-adjusted value for potential positive trial outcomes in urothelial cancer or head and neck cancer. Ivonescimab, a PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody, is under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a biologics license application, with a target action date set for November 2026.
The upgrade comes amid broader market gains, with the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq all rising 0.5%, 0.5% and 0.9%, respectively, during the session. Summit’s stock has gained roughly 6.6% year-to-date but remains 57% below its 52-week high of $30.05 and just above the 52-week low of $12.07.
The company faces competitive pressures in the PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody market, with analysts noting that ivonescimab is unlikely to replace Keytruda across multiple tumor types.
