Trial failure prompts TRACON to consider its future

Shares in TRACON Pharmaceuticals (OTCMKTS: TCON) have fallen by a third, after the San Diego-based firm announced the termination of work on its candidate envafolimab.

The decision comes after the company's pivotal ENVASARC trial failed to meet its primary endpoint, with the objective response rate (ORR) significantly lower than anticipated, at 5%.

Chief executive Charles Theuer said: “While individual patients derived benefit from envafolimab, the response rate by blinded independent central review in the ENVASARC trial does not support a BLA.”