Freedom maintained the target price for Anixa Biosciences shares at $9

Anixa Biosciences (ANIX) reported results for the third quarter of fiscal 2026: the biotech company’s operating expenses increased by 12% year over year to $2.74 mln. Cash and other liquid assets as of July 31 totaled $13.9 mln.

Freedom analysts Ilya Zubkov and Boris Tolkachev consider the issuer’s financial position to be stable and cash burn to be under control. They reiterated a “Buy” recommendation for Anixa Biosciences shares and kept the target price at $9. From the share price of $2.83 at the time of preparing the analysis, this target implied upside potential of about 218%.

What Anixa Biosciences does

Anixa Biosciences is a U.S. biotechnology company developing drugs for the treatment and prevention of oncological diseases. Its shares trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker ANIX.

The company’s key programs are the experimental cell therapy lira-cel for the treatment of ovarian cancer and a breast cancer vaccine. The products are in early stages of clinical trials, so Anixa Biosciences does not yet generate revenue from their sale and finances operations using existing liquidity and capital raising.

Cash runway may last until early 2028

The increase in operating expenses in the third quarter was mainly driven by higher R&D spending on the breast cancer vaccine. Freedom estimates that cash burn is gradually approaching $2 mln per quarter.

At that pace, the existing $13.9 mln of liquidity could last Anixa Biosciences until the first quarter of 2028. The actual financial runway will depend on spending to prepare the vaccine’s Phase 2 trial and the continuation of lira-cel testing with dose escalation.

An additional buffer is provided by a program to gradually sell new shares at the market price. The available capacity is about $95 mln. This mechanism allows the company to raise funding as needed, but its use may increase the share count and dilute existing holders.

Earlier, Freedom also maintained a “Buy” recommendation and a $9 target price for Anixa Biosciences shares. Analysts noted that existing liquidity is sufficient to continue the clinical program, and that the key condition for a re-rating remains successful advancement of the drugs.

Lira-cel remains the main driver of a re-rating

The main mid-term catalyst for investors will be new results from the lira-cel study. This is an experimental cell therapy in which a patient’s immune cells are modified so that they can recognize and attack the tumor. The drug is intended for patients with metastatic ovarian cancer that is resistant to other types of treatment.

Lira-cel is in Phase 1 clinical trials, whose primary objectives are to assess safety and determine dosing. The biological activity signals obtained to date remain preliminary. As the study moves to patient cohorts receiving higher doses, the company will be able to provide additional information on safety and potential efficacy.

In Freedom’s analysts’ view, it is lira-cel’s clinical progress that could become the main driver of growth in Anixa Biosciences’ value. Positive results could increase the likelihood of a partnership deal that would help fund further development of the drug.

The vaccine may become an additional source of growth

Another potential re-rating factor is the experimental breast cancer vaccine. It targets the protein alpha-lactalbumin, which may be present in tumor cells, and is designed to train the immune system to recognize and destroy them.

Anixa Biosciences plans to move to Phase 2 trials, in which the drug is expected to be administered pre-surgery together with pembrolizumab, a medicine that helps the immune system fight the tumor. At this stage, researchers will begin to pay more attention to potential treatment efficacy.

By year-end, analysts expect management to provide details on the study design, the number of participants, and the expected start timing. The emergence of a concrete Phase 2 plan could become an additional positive event for the stock.

At the same time, investments in Anixa Biosciences remain high-risk. The programs are at early clinical stages, and their efficacy has not yet been confirmed in large studies. Key risks also include possible trial delays, regulatory uncertainty, dependence on future partnerships, and likely issuance of new shares to finance operations.

Not an individual investment recommendation.