AstraZeneca PLC (LON:AZN) was on the rise in early deals on Wednesday despite the fact its severe asthma treatment failed in a late-stage study.
Top line results for the UK drugmaker’s tralokinumab antibody failed to achieve any “statistically-significant” improvements for patients compared to the current standard of care.
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“The results are disappointing as we had hoped that tralokinumab would benefit patients with severe asthma, which is a complex disease with limited treatment options today,” said chief medical officer Sean Bohen.
It is a costly failure for Astra, which struck a US$115mln deal with Danish outfit Leo Pharma last July to manufacture and supply tralokinumab. It’s also a blow to the company’s asthma portfolio, which it has called a “priority area” in the past.
Rare blood cancer approval boosts share price
Shares were up 1.3% to £50.96 on Wednesday morning, however, with investors focusing more on yesterday evening’s announcement that the US Food and Drug Administration approved AstraZeneca’s Calquence drug as a treatment for a rare type of blood cancer.
The FDA said it had granted accelerated approval to Calquence – also known as acalabrutinib – to treat adults with mantle cell lymphoma who have received at least one prior therapy.
City broker Liberum said the approval on its own isn’t much to write home about – “not financially significant” is what it actually says – but it’s the data released with the approval that has got the markets excited.
“The data…suggests a very strong profile vs incumbent BTK inhibitor, Imbruvica, and supports our prior view of Astra’s high chances of getting the data it needs to challenge in bigger indications such as CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukaemia),” wrote analyst Roger Franklin.