Matinas BioPharma Holdings Inc (OTCMKTS:MTNB): Here's What We're Watching

Matinas BioPharma Holdings Inc (OTCMKTS:MTNB) put out a business outlook at the end of January, and alongside the outlook, gave markets a number of milestones to keep an eye on across the coming twelve months. This is one we’ve looked at before here at Insider Financial, and at our last coverage, we suggested that the spate of catalysts set to hit press made it an intriguing speculative exposure.We still hold this bias, and the attest company update has allowed us to refine it somewhat. So, with this noted, here's what we're watching, and where we think the company is going.For those new to Matinas, the company is a development stage biotechnology company that is working to produce a class of drugs called anti-infectives. These are exactly as they sound – drugs designed to prevent infection through one of two methods, inhibition of infection spread, or through the killing of the infectious agent outright. For a company of Matinas' size, it has a pretty deep pipeline, but there are two lead assets that account for the vast majority of its valuation right now, and it's these two assets that we are focusing our attention on near to medium term.The first is MAT2203, which is currently under investigation as an oral reformulation of an already approved drug called amphotericin B, which is a broad spectrum fungicidal agent. The two lead trials for MAT2203 are a phase II investigating efficacy in immunocompromised patients with refractory mucocutaneous candidiasis, and a second phase II in patients with vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC).The second is called MAT2501, and this one is again an oral reformulation of an already approved drug, with the base this time being a drug called amikacin. The lead trial for MAT2501 is an ongoing phase I study in patients with non-tuberculous mycobacterium infections, which kicked off at the end of last year.To simplify things a bit, we can describe both of these assets as follows: using its prop tech platform, Matinas has taken two IV anti infective treatments and made them into oral administration drugs – amphotericin to MAT2203 and amikacin to MAT2501.So, what are the catalysts?Well, as readers probably suspect already, they relate to the above mentioned ongoing investigative programs in the two lead assets.The first is a topline data release from the phase I study of MAT2501. Matinas has reported that it intends to put out the data from this study at some point during the first quarter of 2017, which leaves around six weeks from time of writing for the data to hit press.The second and third catalysts relate to MAT220.The second is the top line release of data from the mucocutaneous candidiasis study. This one kicked off a little earlier than the VVC study, and the company has said it intends to get the data out at some point during the first half of this year. We think this should hit early second quarter.The third is the equivalent release for the VVC study, which based on our logic of the trial starting later, should come out after (but not too much after) the mucocutaneous candidiasis numbers. Matinas has this one slated as first half 2017, so we're looking at end-May as a likely release threshold.That's the data catalysts, but there's one more event we are watching as having the potential to serve up some upside.After the data read out, Matinas intends to kick off a phase I study of the 2203 asset in a fresh indication – hematologic malignancy. This will be the first application of the pipeline to oncology, and while the study is only a PK investigation, it could draw plenty of speculative attention towards Matinas if it reads out in favor of clinical benefit in the blood cancer space.As things stand, the company's cash runway extends well into 2018, so dilution shouldn’t be a near term concern.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.