Detailed Viktoria-1 results of Celcuity Inc.’s gedatolisib positions the pan-PI3K/mTORC1/2 inhibitor as a top contender for second-line treatment of HR+/HER2- PIK3CA wild-type advanced breast cancer – a multibillion-dollar indication in need of new treatments.
With more-than-satisfying phase III data in hand, Minneapolis-based Celcuity Inc. is eyeing an NDA submission in the fourth quarter of this year for gedatolisib (geda) in breast cancer. Shares of the company (NASDAQ:CELC) closed July 28 at $36.79, up $23.02, or 167%, after Wall Street learned of stellar top-line results from the PIK3CA wild-type cohort of the phase III Viktoria-1 trial.
Eli Lilly and Co.’s end last year to its PI3Kα inhibitor program didn’t mean the pharma player was giving up on the target – far from it, as signaled by the potential $2.5 billion deal signed recently to take over Scorpion Therapeutics Inc. and gain rights to phase I/II-stage STX-478 for breast cancer and other solid tumors. The list of developers at work in the space includes Roche AG plus smaller entities such as Celcuity Inc., Menarini Group, Onkure Therapeutics Inc., Relay Therapeutics Inc. and Totus Medicines Inc.
Top-line phase III data from G1 Therapeutics Inc.’s pivotal Preserve 2 study of Cosela (trilaciclib) in treating metastatic triple-negative breast cancer missed its primary endpoint of overall survival, submerging the stock on June 24.
Companion diagnostics-focused Celcuity Inc. CEO Brian Sullivan said the deal with Pfizer Inc. for rights to pan-PI3K/mTOR inhibitor gedatolisib was “an organically developed opportunity, because of the research we had done on gedatolisib” in the course of investigating PI3K inhibitors. “We hadn’t shifted our strategy and said, ‘Oh, let’s start in-licensing drugs.’”
