June 1 (Reuters) – Summit Therapeutics’ shares rose as much as 7% before the bell after its ivonescimab therapy with China-based partner Akeso helped advanced lung cancer patients live 15% longer than BeOne Medicines’ Tevimbra immunotherapy.
In a head-to-head study conducted in China, patients with advanced squamous non-small cell lung cancer who received the drug ivonescimab and chemotherapy lived an average of 27.9 months, compared with 23.7 months for those who received Tevimbra and chemotherapy, late-stage trial results presented on Sunday showed.
“This marks a notable advancement in a setting where no other treatments have ever found success,” said TD Cowen analyst Tyler Van Buren.
Ivonescimab belongs to a newer class of medicines known as bispecific antibodies, which have dual targets. It blocks the protein PD-1 — that helps cancer avoid attacks from the immune system — and a second protein called VEGF that can promote tumor growth.
Summit Therapeutics has rights for the drug in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Japan through a deal worth up to $5 billion, while Akeso retains the rights for China and the rest of the world.
The study involved 532 patients with newly diagnosed advanced stage 3 or stage 4 squamous non-small cell lung cancer. It compared ivonescimab with Tevimbra as a first-line treatment. All patients also received chemotherapy.
The results were presented at a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago.
Jefferies analyst Faisal Khurshid said since the study was conducted only in China, it still needs to be seen whether the same benefit shows up in global trials, especially in the United States and Europe.
Julie Gralow, ASCO’s chief medical officer, said the new China-only data would not be used to seek U.S. approval, but that a separate ongoing global late-stage trial comparing ivonescimab directly with Merck’s Keytruda was expected to produce interim data later this year.
Summit’s shares gained 2.7% to $18.01 in premarket trading on Monday. The stock has stayed mostly flat so far this year.
(Reporting by Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)
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