Merck collapses in Frankfurt, stop to an experimental oncology drug

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(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) – Merck Kgaa targeted by sales on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, after the surprise stop to the trial of an oncology drug due to its insufficient effectiveness. The shares of the German pharmaceutical group lost more than 10%, among the largest losses of the Dax index and also of the Stoxx Europe 600. Merck announced «the interruption of the randomized Phase III TrilynX study evaluating xevinapant plus chemoradiotherapy in patients with head and neck carcinoma (La Scchm). The decision follows an interim analysis that was scheduled and performed by the study’s independent data monitoring committee and found that «the study is unlikely to achieve its primary objective to prolong event-free survival”, explains a statement from the Darmstadt company.

The company will conduct an in-depth review of the data and share the findings in a forum. The carcinoma at the center of the trial “has proven to be a difficult form of cancer to treat”, notes Merck. Furthermore, «considering the totality of the data, the company has also decided to interrupt the Phase III X-Ray Vision clinical study» which involves xevinapant plus radiotherapy, compared to placebo plus radiotherapy) in patients undergoing head tumor resection and of the neck locally advanced.

As Jefferies analysts point out, the interruption of Merck KGaA’s phase 3 study on the drug xevinapant after unsatisfactory results, calls into question the company’s research and development capabilities. According to analysts, the German pharmaceutical company’s attention is now on a late-stage licensing deal to revive its healthcare business. Failure of the xevinapant study was considered unlikely. Jefferies experts gave the negative outcome a probability of 5%. «We should expect a devaluation of around 60 million euros which will hit the second quarter accounts and a devaluation close to 188 million euros», the analysts conclude.

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