Merck, Biomira Cancer Vaccine Stumbles

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Merck, Biomira Cancer Vaccine Stumbles

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/457341?mpid=15146

By Sitaraman Shankar and Sorid

FRANKFURT/NEW YORK (Reuters) Jun 17 - German drugmaker Merck KGaA and

Canada's Biomira Inc said on Tuesday a Phase III trial on breast cancer vaccine

Theratope failed to meet key targets for disease progression and overall

survival.

Results of the trial, involving 1,030 women at more than 120 sites in 10

countries, were seen as important to Merck, which is battling failures in its

research pipeline as well as generic competition to its diabetes drug

Glucophage.

Merck stock -- which had touched a 12-month high of 30.10 euros earlier this

month -- traded 5.1 percent lower at 27.40 euros by 0821 GMT, underperforming

Germany's mid-cap MDAX index, which was up 0.2 percent.

" I think this is clearly negative. It was always regarded as a high risk

area, but it was a wild card for Merck, which if successful could have meant

peak

sales of up to $1 billion, " said Merrill Lynch analyst s Schmidt.

" There have been some failures recently, and the company's research focus is

very narrow, and that too in a very risky area, " Schmidt said.

Biomira shares, which have more than doubled in value since the beginning of

the month, closed at C$5.35 in Toronto ahead of the announcement.

FAVOURABLE TREND

The companies said in a statement that one subset of patients in the group --

women on hormonal treatment following chemotherapy -- appeared to show a

favourable trend to improvement in survival.

Merck and Biomira said further analysis of this subset was underway, as was

additional analysis of complete trial data. They said they would discuss how to

proceed based on discussions with regulators.

Merck licensed the drug from Biomira in May 2001.

A Merck spokesman played down the significance of the failure. " Expectations

in high-risk area of cancer vaccines were not high, as we have expressed in

the past, " he said.

However the setback took away some of the gloss from Merck's recent success

with cancer drug Erbitux.

The future of Merck's research pipeline rests squarely on the colo-rectal

cancer drug, on which the company revealed promising data earlier this month at

an American cancer researchers' meeting.

Otherwise, research news from Merck in recent months has been dismal. It has

announced the end of trials on three anti-diabetes drugs and has stopped

development of an anti-depressant on which it was collaborating with

GlaxoKline Plc.

Merck and Biomira continue to work on another cancer vaccine, BLP25, which is

undergoing trials for non-small cell lung cancer and prostate cancer. Results

from both trials are expected later this year or in early 2004.