By Ludwig Burger

FRANKFURT, Reuters – Roche’s pioneering treatment for lung cancer was halted Wednesday after the drug’s second trial failed to stop the progression of the disease. This impacted Roche’s stock price.

The company stated that a combination of tiragolumab with Roche’s established Tecentriq drug didn’t slow down disease progression in patients diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. This was in contrast to the results of patients who were only on Tecentriq.

After tiragolumab failed to slow down the progress of another, more severe form of lung carcinoma in March, this was the second trial. The second trial had better chances of success, according to analysts.

Roche shares plunged 7.4%, to the lowest level in nearly a year. They were down 6.3% at 1140 GMT and dragging the STOXX Europe 600 health care index 1.2% lower.

This setback may disrupt development efforts of more than half a dozen companies that are looking at similar compounds for anti-TIGIT drugs. Merck & Co is closely behind Roche in that race.

Roche said that it would keep its trial going after the disappointed interim report, in order to get more data about the ability of tiragolumab to prolong the life spans of trial participants.

Roche Chief Medical Officer Levi Garraway stated that although these results were not as expected, they look forward to seeing mature overall survival to help us determine the next steps.

Credit Suisse analysts stated in a note that investors had expressed hope for the drug to become an important new treatment in immuno-oncology. The potential sales of this new drug could reach multi-billion dollars.

They stated that they expect investors to now disregard the entire TIGIT franchise of Roche, until there are signs of efficacy.

TIGIT can be found in immune system cells and acts as a buffer to stop misguided immune attacks on normal tissue. However, some cancers can exploit TIGIT to escape detection by immune cells.

A similar mode of action is behind a blockbuster class of immune drugs known as PD-1 and PD-L1, such as Merck & Co’s Keytruda and Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:)’s Opdivo.

This multi-billion-dollar industry success has prompted the industry to investigate similar anti-cancer ideas, such as anti-TIGITs. They are thought to be well-tolerated and are often being tested in a drug combination with existing PD-1 or PD-L1 medications.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ 🙂 exercised last November an option to partner with Arcus Biosciences, (NYSE 🙂 for the anti-TIGIT drugdomvanalimab.

GlaxoSmithKline, (NYSE:), in June 2021 signed a licensing contract with iTeos Therapeutics Inc to license an anti-TIGIT drug candidate.

Agenus (NASDAQ) Inc and Bristol-Myers Squibb are collaborating to develop a drug in a partnership that will be announced May 20,21.

In January, Coherus BioSciences exercised its option to license a Shanghai Junshi Biosciences drug candidate for U.S. or Canadian markets.

Roche’s attempt to overcome a decrease in sales from competition from cheaper versions of its trio of cancer drugs is now over. It’s looking to the future for an experimental Alzheimer’s treatment, where trial results can be expected this year.