BRIEF—Innate Pharma falls heavily after disappointing trial results

France’s Innate Pharma says clinical trials into its antibody candidate lirilumab have failed to provide clear evidence of benefit to patients or an obvious development path.

The novel candidate targets receptors expressed by circulating natural killer (NK) cells.

Chief executive Mondher Mahjoubi said: “We remain convinced, based on broad preclinical evidence, that NK cells play an important role in cancer immunosurveillance. Together with Bristol-Myers Squibb, our partner, we will further examine these data to better understand the results and explore whether other combinations should be investigated.”

The company’s share price is down 40% following the announcement.

Full data from the previously disclosed Phase II EffiKIR trial will be discussed at the upcoming ASH Annual Meeting.