(Reuters) -Bristol Myers Squibb and Nektar Therapeutics said on Monday they would discontinue two late-stage studies testing their combination therapy in melanoma patients after one of the trials failed to meet the main goal.
Shares of Nektar Therapeutics plunged nearly 43% in premarket trading.
The study that missed its goal tested experimental treatment bempegaldesleukin in combination with Bristol’s Opdivo and compared them with just Opdivo as a first-line treatment for certain melanoma patients.
The other study, which was also discontinued, was also testing the same combo in comparison with Opdivo monotherapy in patients that had the cancer surgically removed but were at high risk of recurrence.
Bempegaldesleukin was developed by Nektar and was being tested in the trial run by Bristol through an agreement in 2020. (https://bit.ly/3CGjdyK)
The companies said they would continue four other studies for the combo therapy in renal cell carcinoma and bladder cancer.
(Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Anil D’Silva)
