Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: MIPI) is surging this morning on solid news in the war on cancer. Any time you have a gain of 100% or more in a single day, the term “surge” is an understatement. The move is on the heels of results from a completed Phase II clinical trial of Onalta being published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology showing that the trial of 90 patients with Onalta improved symptoms associated with metastatic carcinoid tumors (neuroendocrine tumors of the GI tract and bronchus).
The test results were refractory to conventional treatment with the somatostatin analogue, octreotide; the Y-90-edotreotide therapy resulted in objective tumor response or stable disease in 67 of 90 patients with metastatic carcinoid refractory to octreotide therapy. That comes to 74.4% response rate.
The median progression-free survival and overall survival were 16.3 and 26.9 months, respectively; and the company noted that there appeared to be a correlation with prolongation of the period of progression free survival in those patients who had durable diarrhea improvement. Key improvements in patient symptoms and quality of life related to carcinoid tumors were also noted, and treatment was well-tolerated and had an acceptable adverse event profile.
Where this is interesting is that the patients involved in the study had incurable, progressive disease refractory to octreotide with severe symptoms which could themselves be life-threatening and the results support Onalta’s potential to improve outcomes among a refractory, metastatic patient population lacking treatment options. The article is available here.
This move in Molecular Insight is up 160% at $3.90, and the stock has traded even higher this morning. The move is strong enough that it seems to be adding a boost to other biotech shares with positive cancer news this morning.
EntreMed, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENMD) is up big this morning on reports that it has initiated a Phase II study for its ENMD-2076 in ovarian cancer. This is one of the stocks that has been around since the late 1990′s and has been in the $20′s, $40′s, $60′s and even higher in the distant past.
JON C. OGG
