Tempest Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:TPST) shares soared 66.53% to $1.26 in after-hours trading on Tuesday after the California-based clinical-stage biotechnology company announced an exclusive option agreement with Hebei Senlang Biotechnology Co., Ltd.

Hebei Senlang is a Chinese cell-therapy company specializing in CD7-targeted CAR-T development.

Shares Jump on New Cell Therapy Pipeline Expansion

The deal, announced after the markets closed Tuesday, resonated positive on the stock performance. The gain in the late trading session followed an intraday decline of 3.68%, where the stock closed at $0.76, according to Benzinga Pro data.

According to the announcement, the agreement gives Tempest an exclusive option to license Senlang’s CD7-targeted lentiviral vector platform and its in vivo CAR-T pipeline, including a BCMA/GPRC5D dual-targeting candidate in Phase 1 trials for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.

Matt Angel, President and Chief Executive Officer of Tempest, said, “This agreement represents an important step in building Tempest as a multi-platform in vivo CAR-T company focused on immune reset for oncology and autoimmune indications.”

As of Aug. 25, no Grade 3 or higher cytokine release syndrome or immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS) was observed in the ongoing dose-escalation study, the company said. The safety profile supports continued dose escalation, with patient enrollment and follow-up ongoing.

Tempest and Senlang will continue to evaluate the Phase 1 results and broader product portfolio during the option period.

Trading Metrics, Technical Analysis

Tempest Therapeutics has a market capitalization of $12.14 million, a 52-week high of $12.22 and a 52-week low of $0.74.

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) of TPST stands at 29.81.

On Tuesday, the stock traded 26.44 million shares, which was approximately 96.9 times higher than its average trading volume of 272,910 shares.

The small-cap biotech stock has fallen 92.39% over the past 12 months.

TPST is currently trading extremely close to its 52-week low, at just 0.17% of its annual price range.

Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicates Tempest Therapeutics stock has a negative price trend across all time frames.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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