Ex­elix­is lands PhI­II kid­ney can­cer win with Bris­tol My­ers in their hunt for $4 bil­lion

Three months af­ter CEO Michael Mor­ris­sey ca­su­al­ly tossed a $4 bil­lion peak sales fig­ure for his com­pa­ny at the JP Mor­gan Health­care Con­fer­ence, Ex­elix­is is one step clos­er to that lofty goal, cel­e­brat­ing a piv­otal tri­al win to­day with Bris­tol My­ers Squibb.

In com­bi­na­tion with the phar­ma gi­ant’s check­point in­hibitor Op­di­vo, Ex­elix­is’ once-dai­ly pill Cabome­tyx im­proved pro­gres­sion-free sur­vival and over­all sur­vival in pa­tients with re­nal cell car­ci­no­ma, a form of kid­ney can­cer. The Phase III tri­al test­ed the com­bo against an old­er drug, called suni­tinib, in pre­vi­ous­ly un­treat­ed pa­tients. The new treat­ment re­duced the risk of dis­ease pro­gres­sion by 49% and of death by 40%, ac­cord­ing to an Ex­elix­is SEC fil­ing.

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