Arvinas shares halved as vepdegestrant underwhelms

Shares in US biotech Arvinas (Nasdaq: ARVN) were more than 50% lower, and those in pharma giant Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) down 2%, at the mid-point of Tuesday’s trading.

The companies earlier announced positive topline results from the Phase III VERITAC-2 trial comparing vepdegestrant monotherapy with fulvestrant in adults with estrogen receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (ER+/HER2-) advanced or metastatic breast cancer whose disease progressed following prior treatment with cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitors and endocrine therapy.

These are the first pivotal data for vepdegestrant, a potential first-in-class investigational oral proteolysis targeting chimera (PROTAC) ER degrader that is being jointly developed by Arvinas and Pfizer.