ImmunoGen skids after ending cancer drug study
ImmunoGen plunges after it says lung cancer drug was not working in mid-stage clinical trial
NEW YORK (AP) -- ImmunoGen said Tuesday it stopped a trial of an experimental cancer drug because it was not working, and the company's shares tumbled.
The mid-stage trial evaluated the company's drug IMGN901 as a treatment for small-cell lung cancer. ImmunoGen said patients who were treated with a combination of IMGN901 and the chemotherapy drugs etoposide and carboplatin did not have longer progression-free survival, or time to death or disease progression, than patients treated with just etoposide and carboplatin.
An independent monitoring committee recommended that ImmunoGen stop the trial. The company also said that there was a possibility that patients treated with IMGN901 were more likely to suffer an infection or die from infection. ImmunoGen said it will analyze the results of the trial as it chooses its next steps for IMGN901.
Shares of ImmunoGen Inc. plunged $3.50, or 21 percent, to $13.05 in morning trading.
Cowen and Co. analyst Simos Simeonidis said IMGN901 is the most advanced experimental drug that ImmunoGen owns by itself. He said the company may choose to focus on similar drugs currently in preclinical trials instead of continuing to study IMGN901.
The Waltham, Mass., company helped develop the breast cancer treatment Kadcyla, which was approved in February. Swiss drugmaker Roche markets Kadcyla, and ImmunoGen also has partnerships with Amgen Inc., Sanofi, and Bayer.
