Hutchison China Meditech Ltd (LON:HCM) had almost £1bn wiped off its value as flagship treatment fruquintinib stumbled in a final stage lung cancer trial.
In a study of 527 patients in China, fruquintinib slowed the disease but failed to improve survival rates to any significant degree over existing treatments.
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“While the study demonstrates a significant reduction in disease progression in this challenging lung cancer patient population, we are disappointed that this benefit did not translate into an increase in overall survival," said Simon To, Chi-Med’s chairman.
Fruquintinib has already been approved in China to treat advanced colorectal cancer and To repeated his confidence in the long-term prospects for the drug.
“The recent first approval of fruquintinib monotherapy for advanced colorectal cancer, the imminent launch in China, and the commencement of several combination collaborations with immunotherapies both in China and in the US, reinforces our belief," To said.
The drug works by cutting off the blood supply to tumours, a class of drugs known as anti-angiogenesis therapies that in 2017 generated sales of US$18bn,
Aim-listed Chi-Med shares fell 20.5% to £3.73bn.