- An ovarian cancer drug under development by Genentech Inc. that many investors had written off showed promise in a midstage trial, even though the trial may not have met its main goal.
Genentech said late on Thursday that results from a midstage, or Phase II trial of pertuzumab formerly known as Omnitarg, in combination with Eli Lilly and Co.'s cancer drug Gemzar, were "encouraging," though it did not provide data.
Jason Kantor, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets Corp., said the company told him in an interview that data showed pertuzumab did not stave off the disease by a statistically significant amount.
"I asked the company if the word "encouraging" implied that they did not meet the primary endpoint and they confirmed it with me," Kantor said.
However, he said the data may be strong enough to prompt the company to test the drug in late-stage trials.
Dimerization, or pairing with other receptor proteins, is essential for HER receptor activity and may have a major role in driving growth and survival in many tumor types. Pertuzumab (recombinant humanized monoclonal antibody 2C4; Omnitarg;) represents the first in a new class of agents known as HER dimerization inhibitors. Pertuzumab binds to HER-2, the most common HER pairing partner, at the dimerization domain, sterically inhibiting its ability to form dimers with other HER receptors and thus inhibiting tumor progression.
NYSE:DNA is trading down today 24 cents per share at 83.79.
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