Celgene Soars on Drug's Success ; Myeloma Treatment Effective in Trials
Posted on: Tuesday, 8 March 2005, 15:00 CST
An experimental cancer drug made by Celgene Corp. performed so well that clinical trials are being halted and patients in the trials will be offered the drug, Celgene said Monday. The news sent the company's stock up 18 percent to close at $33.88, its highest point in more than four years.
Summit-based Celgene plans to use the trial results to seek approval from the Food and Drug Administration for the drug, Revlimid, to treat multiple myeloma, a blood cancer.
Revlimid is a version of thalidomide, which caused birth defects when it was prescribed outside the United States in the 1950s. Celgene makes several variations of thalidomide for the treatment of leprosy and blood cancers and employs a risk management plan to keep the drugs from pregnant women.
In a clinical trial of 705 patients, a combination of Revlimid and dexamethasone was found more effective than dexamethasone alone in treating multiple myeloma, the second most common blood cancer after lymphoma.
The news was greeted enthusiastically by both Wall Street and an advocate for myeloma patients.
"This is extremely good news," said Thomas McGahren, an analyst with Merrill Lynch, who rates Celgene a "buy." He predicted that if approved by the FDA, Revlimid could generate sales of more than $350 million a year for Celgene by 2007. Earlier this year, the company predicted total revenues of $525 million in 2005. Most of Celgene's revenues have come from sales of Thalomid, another version of thalidomide.
"We're incredibly excited," said Kathy Giusti, president of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation in New Canaan, Conn. "We're grateful to Celgene."
About 45,000 Americans have multiple myeloma, which causes the bone marrow to produce malignant plasma cells. The average life span of a myeloma patient is about four years from diagnosis, Giusti said. The disease, which is incurable, kills about 60,000 people worldwide each year.
Celgene tested Revlimid as a melanoma treatment earlier but found it ineffective against that skin cancer.
Source: Record, The; Bergen County, N.J.
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