Anne Czichos
Shares of Merck KGaA (OTCPK:MKGAF) (OTCPK:MKKGY) fell in European trading on Tuesday after the German drugmaker said it would discontinue a late-stage trial for its head and neck cancer therapy xevinapant as its early results indicated a potential failure.
The decision comes after the study’s data monitoring committee determined that the Phase 3 trial named TrilynX was unlikely to achieve its primary goal of event-free survival.
Given the outcome, the Darmstadt, Germany-headquartered company has also decided to end another Phase 3 trial called X-Ray Vision for the candidate in head and neck cancer.
TrilynX was designed to evaluate xevinapant with chemoradiotherapy in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck who haven’t undergone surgery for cancer removal.
The X-Ray Vision trial evaluated xevinapant plus radiotherapy compared to placebo plus radiotherapy in patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer whose tumors have been surgically removed.