Peregrine leaps 56% as bavituximab shown to double NSCLC patient survival

Shares of US biotech firm Peregrine Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: PPHM) rocketed 56.4% to $4.80 last Friday, after the company presented positive interim results from its 121 patient randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase IIb trial in patients with refractory non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with drug candidate bavituximab.

The blinded study evaluated two dose levels of bavituximab (bavituximab-containing arms) given with docetaxel versus docetaxel plus placebo (control arm). The interim data showed a statistically-significant improvement in overall survival (Hazard Ratio 0.524, p-value .0154) and a doubling of median overall survival (OS) in the bavituximab-containing arms compared to the control arm. The data was presented as part of a late-breaking plenary presentation at the 2012 Chicago Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology by David Gerber, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, a principal investigator in the trial.

Positive in most important endpoint, overall survival