Innate stock slumps 16% as AstraZeneca pulls plug on monalizumab in head/neck cancer after trial failure
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Innate Pharma (NASDAQ:IPHA) said a phase 3 trial of monalizumab to treat a type of head and neck cancer was being discontinued by AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) as the drug failed to show the desired efficacy.
The study called INTERLINK-1, which was being sponsored by AstraZeneca, evaluated monalizumab in combination with Eli Lilly's (NYSE:LLY) Erbitux (cetuximab) vs. cetuximab in patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (R/M SCCHN) who have been previously treated with platinum-based chemotherapy and PD-(L)1 inhibitors.
The main goal of the study was overall survival in HPV-unrelated participants.
Innate said that in a planned futility interim analysis the study did not meet a pre-defined threshold for efficacy, and based on the recommendation of an Independent Data Monitoring Committee, AstraZeneca informed that the study would be discontinued.
Looking ahead Innate CEO Mondher Mahjoubi said, "We remain confident in the development program for monalizumab in lung cancer, where encouraging data has been previously reported from the randomized, Phase 2 COAST and Neo-COAST studies. Our focus for monalizumab remains on the Phase 3 PACIFIC-9 study in the unresectable Stage III non-small cell lung cancer setting, as well as the Phase 2 NeoCOAST-2 study in the neoadjuvant early-stage lung cancer setting."
IPHA -16.29% to $2.57 premarket Aug. 1