Antisoma starts Ph III NSCLC trial, earns $25M

Antisoma has started a pivotal Phase III trial of ASA404 combined with first-line chemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer, triggering a $25.0-million payment from development partner, Swiss drug major Novartis. On the day the ATTRACT-1 study was initiated, April 11, shares in the UK cancer specialist jumped 12% to L0.28.

Last year, at the World Conference on Lung Cancer in Seoul, South Korea, Antisoma presented encouraging data on ASA404 from a single-arm Phase II trial (Marketletter September 17, 2007). NSCLC patients on a 1,800mg/m2 dose of the tumor vascular-disrupting agent in combination with carboplatin and paclitaxel chemotherapy showed a median survival of 14.9 months, with an average time-to-disease progression of 5.5 months and an overall tumor response rate of 37.9%.