OXiGENE leaps on increased survival results for Zybrestat

Shares of US biotech firm OXiGENE (Nasdaq: OXGN) rocketed 88.8% to $4.59 after the company announced positive results from a randomized Phase II clinical trial evaluating Roche’s Avastin (bevacizumab) with or without its own Zybrestat (fosbretabulin; CA4P) to treat patients with recurrent ovarian cancer.

The study, known as Gynecologic Oncology Group protocol 186I, met its primary endpoint of a statistically-significant increase in progression-free survival (p-value less than 0.05; hazard ratio 0.685) for the combination as compared to bevacizumab alone.

The Phase II study is being conducted by the GOG under the sponsorship of the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). It is the first and currently only randomized trial to test an antiangiogenic therapeutic agent combined with a vascular disrupting agent, without including any cytotoxic chemotherapy.