NuCana falls on decision to halt late-stage study for biliary tract cancer

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• The ADRs of British biotech, NuCana (NASDAQ:NCNA) are trading ~55% lower in the pre-market Thursday after the company announced its decision to discontinue Phase 3 trial for Acelarin in biliary tract cancer.
• The study named NuTide:121 was designed to evaluate the potential of the company’s ProTide candidate Acelarin in combination with the chemotherapy agent Cisplatin versus the standard of care, Cisplatin plus gemcitabine.
• The decision to halt the trial was based on a pre-planned futility analysis conducted by the study’s Independent Data Monitoring Committee (IDMC).
• Despite the higher objective response rate, the panel has determined that Acelarin plus Cisplatin was unlikely to reach the primary objective of indicating at least a 2.2-month improvement in overall survival against the standard of care. However, the experimental therapy was well tolerated, NuCana (NCNA) added.
• Expressing his disappointment over the setback, Chief Executive Hugh S. Griffith noted that the company awaits multiple readouts this year from its other ProTides in development, NUC-3373, and NUC-7738.
• While NuCana (NCNA) has underperformed the broader market over the past twelve months, Wall Street remained bullish on its prospects.