Better news cheers mood at Spectrum Pharmaceuticals

At the end of 2019, the failure of a key Phase II test of poziotinib hollowed out shares in Nevada, USA-based oncology firm Spectrum Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: SPPI).

In a surprise turnaround, an analysis of the second cohort of the same trial provided a positive result, the firm announced on Monday, lifting shares by as much as 50%.

Spectrum is testing the oral EGF tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR TKI) in the ZENITH20 trial, as an option for people with pre-treated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with exon 20 insertions.