FibroGen to cut 75% of US staff after failure of pancreatic cancer hopeful pamrevlumab
31 Jul 2024
FibroGen will cut about 75% of its workforce in the US after scrapping development of its lead pipeline hopeful pamrevlumab following the failure of two studies in pancreatic cancer. The news sent the company’s shares down over 44% in premarket trading on Wednesday.
“We are deeply disappointed” in the results of the Precision Promise trial and the LAPIS study, remarked CEO Thane Wettig, which will result in “an immediate and significant cost reduction plan in the US.”
The Phase II/III Precision Promise study, sponsored by PanCAN, included a pamrevlumab treatment arm that enrolled 102 patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma in first line and 111 participants in second line. Both groups received pamrevlumab, an anti-CTGF fully human monoclonal antibody, in combination with gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel.
Meanwhile, the Phase III LAPIS trial randomised 284 patients with locally advanced, unresectable pancreatic cancer to receive neoadjuvant treatment with pamrevlumab or placebo in combination with either gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel or FOLFIRINOX.
Top-line results showed that neither study met its primary endpoint of overall survival (OS). FibroGen noted that in the Precision Promise study, the mean hazard ratio for the primary efficacy analysis was 1.184, while in LAPIS, median OS was 17.3 months in the pamrevlumab arm compared to 17.9 months in the control arm.
Focus on roxadustat, pipeline
The company indicated that following the termination of the pamrevlumab programme, it will focus on the renal anaemia treatment roxadustat and its pipeline of cancer drugs, led by the CD46-targeting antibody-drug conjugate FG-3246.
Earlier this year, FibroGen regained certain rights to roxadustat from AstraZeneca amid stumbles for the oral HIF-PH inhibitor in the US. The drug is approved in China for renal anaemia patients on dialysis, while it is also sold in Europe under the name Evrenzo through a partnership with Astellas. However, in April, Astellas disclosed an impairment charge of around $100 million related to sluggish sales of Evrenzo having reviewed the "sales situation in each country."
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