Matinas BioPharma Holdings Inc (NYSEMKT:MTNB) Should Turn Around Post-Presentation

Matinas BioPharma Holdings Inc (NYSEMKT:MTNB) is a company we first highlighted back in February this year. We noted that the company had numerous 2017 catalysts set to hit press and that – as these catalysts came in – the company could run on their implications.Two of these catalysts are slated for June – data from a phase IIa study of the company's lead asset MAT2203 in chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis (CMC) and data from a phase II investigating the same asset but in an indication of vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC).On May 30, management announced that it would be presenting data from investigations into MAT2203 as part of two presentations at the upcoming American Society for Microbiology’s ASM Microbe 2017 Conference. The company has sold off since the announcement and – in all honesty – we're not sure why. We've got a hold of the abstract from both presentations (one is far more important than the other) and things look positive.If our interpretation is correct, then, and we believe it is, there's a good chance the recent dip will return once the presentations (again, one in particular) take place and markets revalue to reflect a sentiment shift.Here's what we're looking at.This asset, by way of a quick introduction, is a reformulation of an already approved drug called amphotericin B, which is a broad spectrum fungicidal agent. Right now, the agent needs to be administered intravenously (IV), which brings with it obvious complications, costs and inconveniences. Matinas has developed MAT2203 as an oral formulation of the same agent. In other words, instead of hooking up to an IV for treatment, patients only need take a spoon full of medicine.That's the justification for the program – what have we learned so far?Well, early stage numbers suggested comparability between the two formulations as far as antibacterial activity is concerned, but the company needs to show that, when the drug is taken orally, pharmacokinetics are similar (or at least similar enough) that the anti-infective impact is transferable between administration methods.That's what the phase IIa is set up to show in CMC, and that's what we're going to get an interim look at as part of the upcoming presentation. There's two, as mentioned – one is just a mouse model study that – for now – we're not that interested in.So the phase IIa, what will the presentation show?Readers can check out the abstract here. These sorts of abstracts are notoriously vague and so we're never going to get the full picture from the two for three paragraphs (much of which is an introduction to the study and hypothesis-type copy) served up by the company.With that said, there are important clues as to what management is going to reveal when the presentation kicks off.We know the data only looks at one patient, so that's not great, but it's enough to get markets talking and – at this end of the space – that's enough to get Matinas moving. We know that the patient in question suffered from chronic azole resistant (so this means resistant to the current standard of care alternative) CMC involving the oral and vaginal mucosas and nails for >20 years. We also know, and here's the important part, that clinical efficacy criteria were met at 400mg of MAT2203 oral suspension twice daily with improvement primarily in the oral thrush on exam, clinical symptoms, and semi-quantitative fungal cultures. The abstract also reports that the clinical severity score for thrush (which as per the trial protocol is composed of oral pain, burning, dysphagia, odynophagia, and presence of plaques) decreased from 8 at baseline to 3 at the end of the study drug course.These are all strong efficacy signals.The drug was well tolerated and, when stopped, the infection returned; again, a strong efficacy signal. The conclusion of the presentation will be as follows:

… Preliminary clinical data indicate that C-AMB is promising as an oral systemically-absorbed broad-based antifungal without the toxicity of parenteral AMB.

That's good news and should start the company on an upside trajectory.There's one negative that we've got to mention in the interest of balance. Apparently, Vulvovaginal signs and symptoms also improved, but not to the level seen with oral thrush. This could be reflective of the drug's clinical benefit against this type of infection or it could be unique to the single patient. We just don’t know at this stage. Why is it bad? Because it impacts the second of the two studies of this asset, which is going after VVC and not CMC.Even with this noted, however, the company can leave its presentation audience with a strong takeaway and that – for us – is more than enough to get this one turned around.We will be updating our subscribers as soon as we know more. For the latest updates on MTNB, sign up below!Disclosure: We have no position in MTNB and have not been compensated for this article.