Epizyme Lead Candidate Effective in Ongoing Cancer Study - Analyst Blog
Epizyme, Inc. EPZM announced encouraging data from an ongoing open-label, multi-center phase I study on its oral monotherapy candidate, tazemetostat (EPZ-6438) for the treatment of heavily pre-treated patients suffering from relapsed or refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) or advanced solid tumor.
As of Jun 8, 2015, the company announced data which showed that treatment with tazemetostat led 9 out of 15 evaluable NHL patients to achieve an objective response, including two patients with an ongoing complete response. All treatment responses were observed in patients undergoing tazemetostat treatment for a period of 2 to 10 months. Notably, tazemetostat was well tolerated by the patents.
This data along with statistics from dose-escalation and dose-expansion cohorts of the phase I study and a food-effects sub-study were presented at the International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma. The company intends to provide further update from the phase I study by the end of 2015.
Meanwhile, the company is enrolling patients in an international five-arm, multi-center, phase II study to assess the safety and efficacy of tazemetostat for relapsed or refractory NHL, stratified by cell of origin and EZH2 mutation status. Additionally, a second phase II study on tazemetostat is slated for initiation in patients suffering from INI1-deficient solid tumors later in 2015. Epizyme is also planning to study tazemetostat for the treatment of pediatric solid tumors. The company intends to commence a phase I pediatric study for the treatment of INI1-deficient solid tumors later this year.
Epizyme carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the health care sector are Actelion Ltd. ALIOF, Gilead Sciences Inc. GILD and Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. ACOR. While Actelion and Gilead hold a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Acorda carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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