Small biotech whiffs bad­ly in PhI­II pan­cre­at­ic can­cer study, prompt­ing halt of an­oth­er late-stage tri­al

A few months af­ter back­flip­ping on­to Nas­daq in a strate­gic merg­er, Rafael Hold­ings is learn­ing first­hand the draw­backs of be­com­ing a pub­lic com­pa­ny.

The New Jer­sey-based biotech’s Phase III study for its lead pro­gram did not meet its pri­ma­ry end­point in metasta­t­ic pan­cre­at­ic can­cer, Rafael an­nounced Thurs­day, show­ing al­most no dif­fer­ence in over­all sur­vival be­tween the treat­ment and con­trol arms. Ef­fi­ca­cy re­sults proved so trou­bling that the in­de­pen­dent mon­i­tor­ing board rec­om­mend­ed to halt a sep­a­rate Phase III study in re­lapsed or re­frac­to­ry acute myeloid leukemia due to fu­til­i­ty.

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