Sumitomo's napabucasin unlikely to meet gastric cancer endpoint

The Boston Biomedical Inc. unit of Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co. Ltd. (Tokyo:4506) said an interim analysis by a DSMB showed napabucasin (BBI608) was unlikely to meet the primary endpoint in the Phase III BRIGHTER trial to treat gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer. The company is unblinding the trial, whose primary endpoint is to measure overall survival (OS) and will compare napabucasin plus paclitaxel vs. paclitaxel alone.

In 2014, Sumitomo discontinued a separate Phase III trial of napabucasin in colorectal cancer based on a futility analysis. The therapy is a small molecule targeting cancer stem cells (see BioCentury Extra, May 27, 2014)...