Gilead says its Trodelvy disappointed in a late-stage cancer trial

Gilead Sciences Inc (NASDAQ: GILD) says its drug conjugate Trodelvy disappointed in a late-stage cancer trial. Shares of the biotech firm opened about 10% down today.

Trodelvy failed to meet primary endpoint

Trodelvy did not meet the “primary endpoint of overall survival in previously treated metastatic non-small cell lung cancer”.

EVOKE-01 – the aforementioned phase three trial evaluated the drug conjugate versus docetaxel, as per a press release on Monday.

The news arrives only days before Gilead Sciences Inc is scheduled to report its financial results for the fourth quarter. Consensus is for it to earn $1.77 a share versus $1.67 per share a year ago.

Wall Street currently has a consensus “overweight” rating on $GILD that is still up more than 5.0% versus its low in late November.

What else was noteworthy in today’s update?

The late-stage trial did, however, show a numerical improvement in terms of overall survival that favoured Trodelvy.

Safety profile of the drug conjugate was also found in line with the previous studies. Merdad Parsey – the chief medical officer of Gilead Sciences said in a press release today:

Note that Trodelvy has already secured regulatory approval for metastatic urothelial cancer and certain breast cancers – but not for metastatic NSCLC so far. Last year, Gilead Sciences Inc bought XinThera to expand its footprint in oncology and inflammation.