Summit Therapeutics (SMMT.US) rose more than 50% before the market opened on progress in cancer drugs
1min read Clinical data showed that Summit Therapeutics' (SMMT.US) bispecific antibody ivonescimab reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 49% compared to Merck's (MRK.US) key cancer drug Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in the first-line treatment of lung cancer patients. The company's stock once soared 50%, and as of writing, it rose 30.64% to $16.03.
The phase III HARMONi-2 trial was conducted in China by partner AKESF to evaluate the efficacy of ivonescimab (AK112) alone versus pembrolizumab alone in patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with PD-L1 expression positive.
In the preliminary analysis, ivonescimab monotherapy showed statistically significant improvement in the primary endpoint of progression-free survival compared to pembrolizumab monotherapy, becoming the first drug to demonstrate a clinically meaningful benefit over pembrolizumab in a randomized late-stage clinical trial in NSCLC.
The median progression-free survival was 11.14 months for ivonescimab and 5.82 months for pembrolizumab. The observed rates of serious treatment-related adverse events and discontinuation were comparable, with 20.8% and 16.1% in the ivonescimab and pembrolizumab groups, respectively.
Based on the HARMONi-2 results, Summit announced plans to initiate HARMONi-7 in early 2025. HARMONi-7 is currently planned as a multi-regional phase III clinical trial to compare ivonescimab monotherapy versus pembrolizumab monotherapy in patients with metastatic NSCLC with high PD-L1 expression.