Gone from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting were the packed halls of McCormick Place in Chicago and the excited bustle of scientists reacquainting with each other at the always data-rich event. ASCO’s annual confab, held online because of the COVID-19 pandemic, still managed to pull off what former president Howard Burris called a “resounding success,” with about 40,000 registrants, similar to previous years.
Allogene Therapeutics Inc. investors will have to wait for an update in the second half of this year to find out more about whether off-the-shelf ALLO-501 can durably stand up to autologous CAR T-cell therapies, but early data disclosed at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting is creating buzz in the meantime.
Shares of Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:ADAP) rocketed to $11.07 Friday, up $127% or $6.21, on updated data rolled out at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting, held virtually this year.
Astrazeneca plc’s Tagrisso (osimertinib) seems poised to become standard of care in the adjuvant setting for early stage (IB, II and IIIA) EGFR-mutated non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), thanks to phase III data from the study called Adaura, made public at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting.
The impact of COVID-19 is being felt at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting as much as anywhere else, typically held at McCormick Place in Chicago but this year conducted virtually because of the pandemic.
Arcus Biosciences Inc. “brings the milk without [Gilead Sciences Inc.] having to buy the whole cow” is the way one analyst characterized the pair’s 10-year cancer immunotherapy deal, which could be worth as much as $2 billion, and some may have detected downside for Arcus, as shares (NYSE:RCUS) closed May 27 at $27.05, down $6.49, or 19%. Foster City, Calif.-based Gilead is paying Arcus, of Hayward, Calif., $175 million up front, shelling out a $200 million equity investment, and pledging potentially $1.6 billion or more in the form of R&D support, opt-in cash and milestone payments.
Argenx SE’s later-stage effort with antibody fragment efgartigimod in generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG) was designed with guidance from the phase II trial that showed 75% of patients had a durable response of at least six weeks.
Navidea Biopharmaceuticals Inc. CEO Jed Latkin said positive findings from the second interim analysis of the phase IIb study called NAV3-31 “were certainly better than what we were looking for” and will “make our partnering discussions a lot more interesting.”
Gilead Sciences Inc. and partner Galapagos NV touched off a round of Wall Street chin-scratching as they disclosed phase IIb/III data showing that JAK1 inhibitor filgotinib in ulcerative colitis (UC) at the 200-mg dose achieved all primary endpoints in the study called Selection.
