Genmab Shares Surge 16% After Cancer Drug Cuts Death Risk by 50% in Trial

Shares of Genmab A/S (NASDAQ:GMAB) surged as much as 16% on Wednesday after the Danish biotechnology company announced that its experimental cancer drug, petosemtamab, significantly improved patient outcomes in a late-stage clinical trial.

Trial Delivers Strong Results

Genmab reported positive topline results from its Phase 3 LiGeR-HN1 trial. The study evaluated petosemtamab in combination with the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab against pembrolizumab alone in patients with a specific type of head and neck cancer (first-line PD-L1 positive recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma).

According to the company's announcement, the trial met both of its primary endpoints at the first interim analysis, demonstrating a statistically significant improvement for the combination therapy. Key findings include:

• A 50% reduction in the risk of death compared to pembrolizumab alone, with an overall survival hazard ratio of 0.50.
• A statistically significant improvement in the objective response rate, which measures tumor shrinkage.

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The safety profile of the petosemtamab and pembrolizumab combination was described as generally well-tolerated and consistent with the known profiles of each drug individually, with no new safety signals identified.

Next Steps and Pipeline Context

Following the strong results, Genmab stated it plans to engage with global regulatory authorities to discuss the path forward for petosemtamab. The company also intends to submit the full trial results for presentation at a future medical conference.

Petosemtamab is an investigational bispecific antibody that targets two different proteins involved in cancer growth. Its development is a key part of Genmab's oncology pipeline, and it is also being evaluated in other Phase 3 trials for different stages of head and neck cancer and for previously treated colorectal cancer.