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Immunogen (IMGN) Up after Positive Trial Results

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Immunogen, Inc. (NASDAQ:IMGN) shares are up over 10 percent in morning trade after the company said Roche announced positive top-line results for a drug it licensed from Immunogen.

The drug Trastuzumab emtansine consists of ImmunoGen’s (IMGN) potent cancer-killing agent, DM1, attached to the HER2-targeting antibody, trastuzumab, and is in global development by Roche under an agreement between ImmunoGen and Genentech, a member of the Roche Group.  T-DM1 is a so-called “armed antibody” that combines Herceptin with DM1, which is derived from an old chemotherapy medicine called maytansine.

Patients who received the medicine, T-DM1, lived “significantly” longer without their disease progressing compared with those who received a combination of GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK)’s Tykerb and Roche’s Xeloda, Basel, Switzerland-based Roche said in a statement today.


Roche said that, based on these findings, it plans to apply for marketing approval of trastuzumab emtansine for HER2-positive mBC in the US (through Genentech) and in Europe. Roche also noted that the safety profile of trastuzumab emtansine in the EMILIA trial was consistent with previous studies and that final results for overall survival (OS) are not yet mature. PFS and overall survival are co-primary efficacy endpoints of EMILIA.

“The topline results reported today underscore the significance of trastuzumab emtansine and its potential to help patients,” commented Daniel Junius, President and CEO of Immunogen (IMGN). “We’re delighted with these results and with Roche’s plans to submit trastuzumab emtansine for marketing approval. We look forward to seeing the detailed study data at an upcoming medical meeting.”

“This lends further credibility to Roche’s ability to protect and increase its breast cancer revenues despite the likely appearance of biosimilar Herceptin,” analysts led by Mark Purcell at Barclays Capital wrote in a note today.

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Post Written By: Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.


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Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing.

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