(Reuters) -G1 Therapeutics Inc said on Monday it would terminate a study of its lead drug as it was unlikely to be effective in extending survival in patients with a type of colorectal cancer, sending its shares plunging more than 50%.
The North Carolina-based drugmaker said its decision was due to the placebo showing more efficacy in destroying or reducing tumor size in the late-stage study.
The trial discontinuation is a setback in the company’s plans to expand use of the drug, which is already approved to decrease a side effect of chemotherapy called myelosuppression in some lung cancer patients.
The drug, trilaciclib or Cosela, was unlikely to meet the main goals of extending overall survival or the time that a patient lives without the disease worsening, G1 Therapeutics said.
Cosela is the company’s lead therapy and the only drug being tested in clinical trials. It brought in sales of $32 million in 2022.
However, the drug achieved its goal in the trial of the drug to reduce the occurrence of Neutropenia – an abnormally low count of a type of white blood cell – during induction and reduce its duration.
The company is studying the drug in other indications such as breast and bladder cancer.
Shares of the company, which had a market capitalization of about $361 million as of Friday’s close, fell 51.8% to $3.43 before the opening bell.
The study was testing a combination of the drug administered along with chemotherapy and Roche’s therapy Avastin in patients with a type of colorectal cancer.
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil and Maju Samuel)
