Cancer drug news underwhelming for Glaxo and Roche
Last Updated: 2007-06-04 9:01:42 -0400 (Reuters Health)
By Ben Hirschler, European Pharmaceuticals Correspondent
LONDON (Reuters) - Clinical trial results released at the weekend for key cancer drugs from GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Roche Holding AG proved insufficient to inspire wary investors on Monday.
Shares in Britain's Glaxo fell 1.7 percent by 1024 GMT, as continued near-term concerns about the potential heart-attack risk of its Avandia diabetes drug outweighed the long-term -- and uncertain -- promise of its emerging cancer business.
Roche, the world's biggest maker of cancer medicines, slipped 0.7 percent following a slew of data at the American Society for Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago.
Glaxo aims to establish itself as a major player in the fast-growing oncology market and has high hopes pinned on its new Tykerb pill, for breast cancer, which could be a future rival to Roche and Genentech Inc.'s Herceptin.
Data published on Sunday showed Tykerb helped some patients, including some of those whose breast cancer had spread to the brain. But an investigator on the study said the findings did not amount to a "home run".
Expectations for future revenues from Roche's cancer portfolio, meanwhile, were knocked by confirmation that a lower dose of its Avastin drug was equally effective in treating lung cancer.
"For Glaxo, the Tykerb data in brain metastases is not that impressive, which means there is nothing quite yet to differentiate it from Herceptin," said Dresdner Kleinwort analyst Ben Yeoh.
"The news for Roche is slightly negative, because of low-dose Avastin," he added.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs said the limited progress with Tykerb meant Glaxo's product was unlikely to be a major near-term threat to Herceptin. Overall, they believe Roche remains in a strong position in the cancer field, given its first-mover advantage with targeted therapies like Avastin, Herceptin and MabThera.
Results with Sanofi-Aventis SA's VEGF trap drug were mixed, analysts said, with the product helping some very hard-to-treat patients with the response rate in ovarian cancer proving to be on the low side. GOOD NEWS FOR BAYER
The news was better for some of Europe's smaller drugmakers.
Germany's Bayer AG and its U.S. partner Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. produced strong data for their drug Nexavar, suggesting it helped patients with advanced liver cancer live significantly longer.
Analysts at Deutsche Bank said liver cancer represented a far greater commercial opportunity for Nexavar than kidney cancer, for which it is already approved, and predicted liver cancer sales alone could reach 450 million euros ($605 million).
Bayer shares hit a record high in early trade before slipping back to stand little changed in a 0.5-percent weaker healthcare sector.
Bayer's German rival Merck KGaA also had pleasing results with Erbitux -- a drug developed by ImClone Systems Inc., which Merck sells in Europe. Credit Suisse said the results in head and neck cancer were better than expected and should lead to higher sales forecasts.
