Merck Shares Rise On Positive Erbitux Data For Colon Cancer
23 Setembro 2009 - 6:59AM
Dow Jones News
German pharmaceutical company Merck KGaA (MRK.XE) shares rose
Wednesday after the company said an independent study showed colon
cancer patients lived three and a half months longer when its
Erbitux drug was added to their treatment.
The study showed patients with a specific genetic makeup who
received a combination of Erbitux and chemotherapy lived a median
of 23.5 months compared with 20 months for patients on chemotherapy
alone.
At 0927 GMT, Merck shares were up EUR1.78 or 2.6% at EUR70.66,
outpacing a 0.5% rise in the DAX.
The results were presented Wednesday at the European Society for
Medical Oncology congress in Berlin.
Erbitux, a monoclonal antibody whose active ingredient is called
cetuximab, is already approved as a primary treatment in
combination with chemotherapy for colon cancer. Analysts consider
the drug a potential blockbuster, with peak annual sales of at
least EUR1 billion. It is marketed in the U.S. by Eli Lilly &
Co. (LLY) and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.(BMY).
The drug competes with Amgen Inc.'s (AMGN) Vectibix for a group
of colon cancer patients who carry a normal form of a gene called
KRAS. Studies show patients who have a mutated form of the gene -
about a third of all colon cancer patients - don't respond to
Vectibix or Erbitux. In July, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
revised the labels on the drugs to recommend that they not be used
to treat patients with the genetic mutation.
The data presented Wednesday focused on patients with the normal
KRAS gene.
On Thursday, Amgen is expected to present data on the
effectiveness of Vectibix as a primary colon cancer treatment in
combination with chemotherapy for normal KRAS patients. If approved
as a primary treatment, Vectibix would likely snare some of Merck's
market share.
On Tuesday, data was presented showing patients who took
Vectibix as a secondary treatment lived two months longer than
those on chemotherapy alone. However, the data isn't considered
statistically significant.
Commerzbank analyst Daniel Wendorff said Vectibix doesn't pose
much of a threat to Erbitux based on the data presented so far. He
still sees Erbitux garnering EUR692 million in sales in 2009 and
EUR1 billion in 2013.
-By Allison Connolly, Frankfurt Bureau; +49 69 29725513,
allison.connolly@dowjones.com