Post by Deleted on May 17, 2018 13:18:33 GMT
Loxo Oncology $LOXO was the big winner Wednesday night as investors began to pick through a pile of ASCO abstracts to see what gems could be culled from the numbers.
The biotech’s stock soared 18% overnight as investors spotlighted a 69% overall response rate among 32 evaluable RET-fusion positive patients taking LOXO-292. Loxo’s claim to fame is that it develops cancer drugs that target small, genetically defined patient groups with an agnostic approach to tumor types. Regulators at the FDA have been enthusiastic about this emerging field, which bodes well for Loxo. And they backed that enthusiasm up with data demonstrating a 65% response rate in NSCLC and 83% for papillary thyroid cancer. 84% (27/32) of the patients had radiographic tumor reduction ranging from 19% to 67%.
That’s good, but it may well get better. Loxo CEO Josh Bilenker has flagged that since the January cutoff date for the abstract the data are even better now, which we’ll see at ASCO. Loxo helped stoke the enthusiasm with a note highlighting that LOXO-292 has been selected for best of show at ASCO, which will keep the company in the spotlight.
Cancer R&D, though, is the ultimate blood sport in biotech. And when something goes up, it’s often at the expense of a rival. In this case, that’s Blueprint Medicines — again — which has already felt the sting of a negative comparison with Loxo.
Blueprint Medicines $BPMC has been advancing BLU-667, which has been attracting warm reviews by analysts — unless they start comparing it to the rival. That side-by-side comparison knocked their stock back at AACR, and it did it again last night as the numbers once again favored Loxo. Shares are down about 8% in pre-market trading Thursday.
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The biotech’s stock soared 18% overnight as investors spotlighted a 69% overall response rate among 32 evaluable RET-fusion positive patients taking LOXO-292. Loxo’s claim to fame is that it develops cancer drugs that target small, genetically defined patient groups with an agnostic approach to tumor types. Regulators at the FDA have been enthusiastic about this emerging field, which bodes well for Loxo. And they backed that enthusiasm up with data demonstrating a 65% response rate in NSCLC and 83% for papillary thyroid cancer. 84% (27/32) of the patients had radiographic tumor reduction ranging from 19% to 67%.
That’s good, but it may well get better. Loxo CEO Josh Bilenker has flagged that since the January cutoff date for the abstract the data are even better now, which we’ll see at ASCO. Loxo helped stoke the enthusiasm with a note highlighting that LOXO-292 has been selected for best of show at ASCO, which will keep the company in the spotlight.
Cancer R&D, though, is the ultimate blood sport in biotech. And when something goes up, it’s often at the expense of a rival. In this case, that’s Blueprint Medicines — again — which has already felt the sting of a negative comparison with Loxo.
Blueprint Medicines $BPMC has been advancing BLU-667, which has been attracting warm reviews by analysts — unless they start comparing it to the rival. That side-by-side comparison knocked their stock back at AACR, and it did it again last night as the numbers once again favored Loxo. Shares are down about 8% in pre-market trading Thursday.
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