Shares in Sorrento Therapeutics (SRNE) spiked 10.51% in Tuesday’s trading after the company released positive Phase 1b Study results evaluating safety and MTD (maximum tolerated dose) of epidural resiniferatoxin (RTX) injection to treat intractable cancer pain.A majority of patients reported meaningful pain reduction of 30% or more from baseline, and no dose limiting toxicities were reported.The data was presented at the 14th Annual Pain Therapeutics Summit held virtually from September 21 to 22, 2020.“We are extremely encouraged by the results of this initial study. Even in patients with high levels of pain, RTX given via an epidural injection has been found to reduce pain intensity without having any long-term adverse safety consequences,” said Srdjan S. Nedeljkovic, M.D. at Harvard Medical School.“The patient population had intractable pain that did not respond to other standard therapeutic approaches, including opioids. The addition of RTX to the management of patients with intractable advanced-stage cancer pain offers the prospect of reducing suffering and improving quality of life for this underserved patient population”.This multicenter, open-label study enrolled 17 adults with intractable moderate to severe cancer pain. Subjects were treated with a one-time epidural administration of RTX at escalating dose level cohorts, ranging from 0.4 µg to 25 µg in 3 ml saline, in seven groups.Of the patients, 65% were women and 35% were men. The median age was 58 years (range 28-82 years), and dose escalation was completed at 25 ug.Sorrento now intends to rapidly advance to larger scale trials and expects to submit a request to proceed with a multicenter, blinded, controlled Phase 3 trial to the FDA in the upcoming weeks.A thousand times “hotter” than pure capsaicin and with a high affinity for afferent pain nerves, resiniferatoxin binds to TRPV1 receptors and selectively ablates the nerve endings responsible for pain signals experienced by patients.Sorrento has received two recent buy ratings from the Street, with Dawson James publishing a $21 price target (95% upside potential) and HC Wainwright setting a more bullish $30 price target (178% upside potential).That’s with shares already up almost 220% year-to-date, boosted by investor excitement for Sorrent’s Covid-19 candidates including its rapid, saliva-based, Covid-19 test, Covi-Track. Dawson James’ Jason Kolbert notes that the test is designed as a genomic assay and, as such, can detect the presence of virus in asymptomatic patients.At the same time, the company has received US regulatory clearance to start a Phase 1 trial for its Covid-19 neutralizing antibody candidate.The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave Sorrento the go-ahead to proceed with patient enrollment for its Phase 1 clinical trial for Covi-Guard in hospitalized Covid-19 patients.The initial trial is expected to be followed by large-scale trials targeting a potential Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) submission as early as before the end of this year, the company said. (See SRNE stock analysis on TipRanks).Related News: Illumina Confirms $8B Acquisition Of Cancer-Detection Firm Grail Sorrento Ties The Knot With SmartPharm, Boosting Its Covid-19 Offering Teva Launches Two Digital Inhalers For Asthma Patients More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Accenture To Acquire N3 To Boost Clients' Sales * Stitch Fix Plunges 16% On Larger 4Q Loss; Street Is Bullish * 3M Mulls $3.5B Sale Of Food Safety Division- Report * Ralph Lauren To Cut 15% Of Workforce In Online Shift; Shares Rise 5.4%