B-MS stock sinks with Phase III Opdivo failure in untreated lung cancer

5 August 2016

US pharma major Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMS) has fallen short in a Phase III trial of its key oncology drug Opdivo (nivolumab) as it failed to meet the primary endpoint of progression-free survival in patients with previously untreated advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Amid news of the failure, B-MS’s pre-market share price dropped by nearly 19% to $61.05 in pre-market trading on Friday, only recovering slightly to $62.51, down 17%, by late morning. At that time, Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK), a rival with its oncology drug Keytruda (pembrolizumab), was 6.6% higher at $61.65.

The study concerned is the CheckMate -026 open-label, randomized trial of Opdivo as monotherapy versus investigator’s choice chemotherapy in patients with advanced NSCLC who had received no prior systemic treatment and tested positive for PD-L1 expression.

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