* Plans to stick to developing and licensing drugs
* Not looking at a sale of the company
* Comfortable with cash position
By Esha Dey
BANGALORE, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Drugmaker Immunomedics Inc, which has seen its stock surge more than 60 percent over the last month amid some takeover speculation, plans to stick with its current strategy of licensing out its drug candidates or developing them in-house, top executives said.
"We are not really in a position at this time to talk about being taken over, because as far as the company is concerned, we like the position we are in," Chief Financial Officer Gerard Gorman said.
"We got some good cash reserves, so we got financial strength and we got a couple of licensing arrangements with major companies."
Chief Executive Cynthia Sullivan pointed out that though there was a "large appetite" among bigger companies for late-stage products, Immunomedics' major product candidates were still in early- or mid-stage development.
"With the programs we have going on like milatuzumab or clivatuzumab, they are bit too early stage. And the other two; veltuzumab and epratuzumab, have two very different partners. I think that adds a level of complexity to Immunomedics (for any potential acquirer) as well," Sullivan said.
The company is testing milatuzumab in two early-stage cancer trials, while clivatuzumab is being evaluated in an early-stage study in pancreatic cancer.
Veltuzumab is licensed to Nycomed GmbH for non-cancer indications, while Immunomedics tests the drug in cancer indications.
The company's other mid-stage candidate, epratuzumab, is currently being tested by partner UCB SA in a mid-stage trial in lupus -- data for which is expected in the third quarter.
Immunomedics' shares had jumped around 13 percent on July 20 after rival Human Genome Sciences' lupus drug succeeded in a late-stage trial and are up 61 percent over the past one month.
"The company is significantly undervalued given its broad pipeline with 5 product candidates in multiple clinical programs, significant near-term news flow, strong technologies and a healthy cash position," Brean Murray Carret and Co analyst Ling Wang said in a research note in July.
As of March 31, the company had $51 million in cash and cash equivalents, and said it expects to maintain its annual burn rate at the $20 million to $22 million level.
"A lot of biotechs are running out of cash in this difficult market. So we feel very comfortable for not having to go running out and raise money," CFO Gorman said.
"Having said that, we do have a lot of things in the pipeline and a lot of things that could go in the pipeline if we had more cash." (Reporting by Esha Dey in Bangalore; Editing by Anthony Kurian)