Transgene falls on Pexa-Vec miss in second-line HCC

Transgene S.A. (Euronext:TNG) fell EUR 1.36 (13%) to EUR 8.90 on Wednesday after it said data from 80 patients showed Pexa-Vec ( JX-594) as second-line treatment missed the primary endpoint in the Phase IIb TRAVERSE trial for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Pexa-Vec plus best supportive care (BSC) did not improve overall survival (OS) vs. BSC alone. Transgene stopped early the open-label, international trial, which was slated to enroll about 126 patients with advanced HCC who failed Nexavar sorafenib from Bayer AG (Xetra:BAYN) and Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ONXX).

Transgene said next quarter it will determine whether to move Pexa-Vec into Phase III testing for first-line HCC, which would start next year. Pexa-Vec is also in a Phase IIa trial for patients with sorafenib-naïve HCC, a Phase IIa trial for treatment-refractory kidney cancer, a Phase I/II trial for treatment-refractory colorectal cancer and an exploratory trial for ovarian cancer. ...