Analysts say shares of Olema, a breast cancer drug, could more than double from here
Wall Street is optimistic about this Olema Pharmaceutical could develop the next big breakthrough in breast cancer treatment.
Earlier this month, the company announced promising clinical data for its lead candidate Palazestrant, an oral drug being evaluated in multiple trials for the treatment of estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer.
Shares of the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company are up about 50% this year and more than 70% in the last three months. Analysts surveyed by FactSet still see plenty of upside potential for Olema. Their average price target of $23.71 per share suggests the stock could rise about 164% from its most recent closing price.
Olema was recently added to CNBC’s list of San Francisco-headquartered companies with market capitalizations under $500 million that have attracted market interest.
Stock chart iconStock chart icon
Performance of the Olema share over the past year.
Investors are bullish on Palazestrant ahead of the first results of a key clinical trial in the second half of 2026. These results could potentially lead to a submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and subsequent commercialization of the therapy.
“You just have to look at our data. The best way to predict how a drug is going to work or how a combination of drugs is going to work is to look at the data generated with that drug or that combination,” Olema CEO Sean Bohen said on CNBC’s “Power Lunch.” “I think if [investors] Take the time to sit down and watch this. You will see that there is reason for optimism among analysts and certainly for our researchers and patients.
Palazestrant belongs to the same therapeutic family as tamoxifen, another estrogen receptor-targeting therapy approved in 1997. However, Olema’s drug does not have an agonist effect, meaning it does not trigger a physiological response elsewhere in the body. Fulvestrant, another therapy in the family, also helps eliminate breast cancer, but has significant limitations because it is injected rather than taken orally like Palazestrant.
Palazestrant is specifically designed to “constantly and completely shut down the estrogen receptor … thereby delaying the progression of tumor growth and keeping the disease stable for longer,” Bohen said.
“We focus on the vast majority of patients diagnosed with breast cancer, which is the ER, estrogen receptor, positive or dual negative population, so about 70%,” he said. “We’re taking one of the oldest validated molecular targets in cancer, the estrogen receptor… and what we’re doing is better targeting this particular driver of breast cancer growth and spread to provide better therapy for breast cancer patients.”
Bohen explained that there have been other attempts to improve this, but they haven’t really solved the problem. “So that’s what we’re trying to do,” he said.
