Idera Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:IDRA): Here Are The Catalysts To Watch

Idera Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:IDRA) is one of those stocks that starts off looking incredibly promising, and then over time struggles to maintain investor interest in its operations, and as a result, gradually declines in line with the ebbing of sentiment. As is often the case with these sorts of stocks, however, the ebbing of sentiment is not entirely representative of underlying operations (from a success perspective) and this disparity can often result in an opportunity to pick up an exposure on inefficiency.The company is relatively flat year to date, having kicked things off around $1.5 a share, and ranging as high as $1.62 and as low as $1.35, but currently sits at $1.51. Back in September 2016, however, this one traded as high as $2.80 a share.With a number of catalysts set to hit press throughout 2017, we think Idera can start to draw market once more, and in turn, can stage a run back up to the just mentioned levels of circa of three dollars a share. Here is what we are looking for from a capitalist perspective as supportive of our bias.By way of a quick introduction, the company is a development stage biotechnology company with a core focus on the development and commercialization of oncology products. A few months ago, the company reported a deal that saw it pick up $15 million upfront cash in return for the development rights to a gastrointestinal disease drug called IMO-9200. The drug was – at that stage – essentially discontinued, so this development was a real boost for Idera. Not only did the cash reinforce a somewhat lackluster balance sheet, but it also freed up management to focus on the development of a secondary asset, and the one that is going to provide us with the most impactful near-term catalysts – a drug called IMO-2125. The drug, an immuno-oncology candidate, and the company's now-lead asset, has demonstrated activity in a large array of pre-clinical models and is now demonstrating proof of concept in patients through both clinical and translational outcomes in PD-1 refractory melanoma patients.It's currently under investigation as a combination with ipilimumab and pembrolizumab, two SOCs in the space, and data from this study is our next key event for the company. During February this year, Idera will take the stage at ASCO-SITC Clinical Immuno-Oncology Symposium, and report data from the study. If the data is indicative of efficacy, we expect a sharp upside of somewhere in the region of 20-30%. Also during this quarter, the company expects to kick off a phase 1 trial investigating the efficacy of the drug in multiple refractory solid tumors, but this time as a monotherapy. There is generally increased monetary potential for a monotherapy, and so while the combination therapy trial is important as far as establishing a baseline approval is concerned, markets will be looking at the monotherapy efforts longer term to gauge real potential.Finally, during the second half of this year, Idera has reported that it expects to kick off a secondary combination therapy trial (a phase 2) investigating 2125 in multiple refractory solid tumors. There is also an as yet undisclosed indication for another one of its assets, called 3GA, set to hit press before the end of the year, but we are not taking this into consideration as a real value driver as yet.On the back of the $50 million injection already discussed, and by way of equity issue raise, the company is well-capitalized, and should be able to fund its operations through early to mid-2018 with current cash on hand (somewhere in the region of $55 million). This removes any near-term dilution risk, and affords an investor the opportunity to get in without capital structure risk ahead of the major near-term catalysts.We will be updating our subscribers as soon as we know more. For the latest updates on IDRA, sign up below!Disclosure: We have no position in IDRA and have not been compensated for this article.