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Actions of Gilead fell more than 9% on Monday after a key company drug failed to significantly extend the lives of patients with certain lung cancer in a late-stage trial.
The results are a blow to Gilead, which is working to become a powerful player in the cancer space. The treatment, Trodelvy, is one of Gilead's best-selling cancer drugs and contributed about a third of its $769 million in oncology sales during the third quarter.
The phase three study is part of an effort to expand the use of Trodelvy, which is already approved to treat some types of breast and bladder cancers.
According to Gilead, patients with advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer who took Trodelvy lived longer than those who received chemotherapy alone. But those results did not meet the trial's requirements. bar for success.
The drugmaker said it will discuss the results with regulators and identify whether certain lung cancer patients can still benefit from the drug.
Trodelvy belongs to a highly sought-after class of treatments called antibody-drug conjugates, or ADCs, which deliver anticancer therapy to specifically attack and destroy cancer cells and minimize damage to healthy ones. Standard chemotherapy is less selective: it can affect both cancerous and healthy cells.
ADCs are one of the hottest areas in the pharmaceutical industry, as large drugmakers sign deals to acquire or co-develop them.
Jefferies analyst Michael Yee said Gilead's trial results are not “totally surprising” to the company because data from early studies were mixed and data from competing drugs was “mediocre.”
Yee added that the trial results could “dent” investor confidence about whether Gilead will have significant sales in oncology.
