Here's How Our Readers Just Scored Big With Immunomedics Inc (NASDAQ:IMMU)

When we published this piece last week, titled Here’s Why Now Is A Great Time To Get Into Immunomedics Inc (NASDAQ:IMMU), the company was trading for a little over $9 a share. it reached this level on the back of a week long run from lows just seven days earlier in and around $7.45 a piece, but we suggested that the action was the start of what we believed would prove to be a much longer term upside revaluation. Based on these expectations, therefore, we suggested last week's pricing might be a great opportunity to buy into the stock in anticipation of said reevaluation. IMMUFast forward six or seven days and Immunomedics is making headlines left and right and currently trades for just shy of $12 apiece. The company hasn't released any news or filed anything with the SEC since our previous coverage, but as we pointed out last time, the depth of this one's pipeline exposes it to a whole host of potential upside-inducing inputs and – at the start of this week – one of these inputs just cashed in.So what happened?Many reading will likely already be aware of this week's biggest healthcare and biotechnology space news – Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)'s acquisition of Kite Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:KITE). The transaction isn’t closed yet and won't close out until at least the fourth quarter of this year, but it's a $12 billion deal and it's the first major healthcare acquisition we've had in a while.So what does this have to do with Immunomedics?The lead asset that Gilead stands to pick up when the transaction closes is called xicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel) and it's currently under priority review by the FDA for the treatment of refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma. There is a PDUFA date set for November 29, 2017 on which we will find out whether Gilead has made the right move with the buyout (assuming the deal closes before then, which we are assuming it will).Anyway, axi-cel is part of the family of drugs called CAR-T therapies. These types of drugs are oncology drugs that are designed to stimulate the immune system (through the engineering of T cells) to attack what are generally hard to reach and difficult to treat cancers. A number of companies are developing similar assets and most of these picked up double digit gains on the back of the latest Gilead announcement. ZIOPHARM Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ:ZIOP) ran. So did Juno Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:JUNO) and Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:BLCM).These appreciations are taking place based on expectations that Gilead has done its homework on the chances of axi-cel picking up approval and that said approval will pave the way for respective CAR-T assets of the companies just mentioned going forward.Again, where does Immunomedics come into this?Take a look at this release from the company, dated February 23.The report details some early-stage data that seems to prove that the company's novel bispecific antibodies (bsAbs) can increase the potency of a T cell directed cancer treatment, of which the above discussed CAR-T assets are some examples. The idea is that Immunomedics' drugs can be combined with CAR-T drugs to improve efficacy, so with Gilead validating the CAR-T space today, it has opened up the door to a spectrum of potential collaborations between Immunomedics and other CAR-T developers going forward.Keep in mind that this is something of a tenuous link and that brings with it the potential for something of a correction on the latest run, at least short-term. With that said, however, it shows that Immunomedics has a base of shareholders happy to pull the trigger on any suggestion of long-term strength and, with the catalysts we outlined as being ones to watch in our previous coverage set to hit press near-term, there could be plenty more fuel left in this fire.Check out our previous coverage of this one here. We will be updating our subscribers as soon as we know more. For the latest updates on IMMU, sign up below!Image courtesy of NIAID via FlickrDisclosure: We have no position in IMMU and have not been compensated for this article.