Five Prime Therapeutics climbs 349% after positive cancer test results

• Five Prime Therapeutics soared to 349% on Wednesday after the biotech company posted positive results for its Phase 2 trial evaluating bemarituzumab in stomach cancer.
• Five Prime’s Phase 2 FIGHT trial met all three primary endpoints of its study, including improved progression-free survival.
• “These results bring us closer to the first potential targeted therapy for advanced gastric cancer in more than a decade,” said Helen Collins, Chief Medical Officer of Five Prime.
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A potential breakthrough in the treatment of stomach cancer helped raise shares of Five Prime Therapeutics 349% to $ 24.00 in Wednesday’s trades.

The small-cap biotech company said on Tuesday that its FIGHT Phase 2 trial evaluating bemarituzumab in advanced first-line gastric cancer and gastroesophageal junction cancer met all 3 predetermined efficacy criteria.

Bemarituzumab is a therapeutic antibody targeting FGFR2b + tumors found in about 30% of HER2 gastric cancers worldwide, the company said.

In the study, median progression-free survival improved from 7.4 months to 9.5 months. Median overall survival fell from 12.9 months to not reached, meaning that patients in the trial are still alive and cannot yet determine what median overall survival is.

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In the trial, bemarituzumab was used in combination with chemotherapy, compared to the control group that received chemotherapy and placebo.

“These results bring us closer to the first potential targeted therapy for advanced gastric cancer in more than a decade,” said Helen Collins, Chief Medical Officer of Five Prime.

Collins added that bemarituzumab may have therapeutic potential in other forms of cancer, with FGFR2b + being found in other cancers such as squamous non-small cell lung cancer, triple negative breast cancer, cancer ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, according to the company.

Five Prime will assess all available data from its Phase 2 trial and work with investigators to present the results at an upcoming medical conference.