Halozyme to focus on Enhanze partnering after Phase III oncology miss

With the failure of Halozyme's lead cancer program in a Phase III trial, the company intends to exit the oncology R&D field entirely and focus on deriving partner revenue from its subcutaneous drug delivery technology Enhanze -- which Halozyme believes could deliver $1 billion by 2027.

Halozyme Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:HALO) said Monday it is discontinuing development of PEGPH20 after it failed to improve overall survival (OS) in a Phase III trial to treat metastatic pancreatic cancer (11.2 months vs. 11.5 months for control, p=0.9692). The trial tested Abraxane nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine with or without PEGPH20, a recombinant human PH20 hyaluronidase enzyme conjugated to polyethylene glycol (PEG)...