Aeterna, Keryx fall as perifosine misses X-PECTations
Shares of Aeterna Zentaris Inc. (TSX:AEZ; NASDAQ:AEZS) and Keryx Biopharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:KERX) fell on Monday after perifosine plus Xeloda capecitabine missed the primary endpoint of median overall survival (OS) vs. placebo plus Xeloda in the Phase III X-PECT trial to treat refractory metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). The double-blind, U.S. trial enrolled 468 patients. The partners said they are analyzing the data to determine the development strategy for the product, including whether or not to continue a Phase III trial to treat multiple myeloma (MM). Keryx was off $3.24 (65%) to $1.74, while Aeterna slid C$1.43 (67%) to C$0.71 on Monday. On NASDAQ, the stock fell $1.41 (66%) to $0.73. Perifosine is an alkylphosphocholine modulator of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (PKB; AKT) and other signal transduction pathways. ...