Trial Alert: ASLAN Pharma's Phase II Gastric Cancer Study Fails

(RTTNews) - ASLAN Pharmaceuticals' (ASLN) phase II clinical study of Varlitinib as first-line therapy in HER1/HER2 co-expressing advanced or metastatic gastric cancer patients has failed to meet the primary endpoint of significant reductions in tumor size after 12 weeks of treatment.

In the study, Varlitinib plus mFOLFOX6 was compared to placebo plus mFOLFOX6. Patients treated with Varlitinib plus mFOLFOX6 had an average tumor shrinkage of 22.0% after 12 weeks compared to 12.5% for patients treated with mFOLFOX6 alone. This difference did not reach statistical significance.

A pivotal study comparing Varlitinib and capecitabine to placebo and capecitabine in second-line biliary tract cancer, dubbed TreeTopp, is underway. The topline data from this study is expected in the second half of 2019.

ASLN closed Friday's trading at $3.55, down 15.48%.