Daiichi, AstraZeneca Drop on Concern Over Lung-Cancer Drug
- Investors had widely anticipated a successful clinical trial
- Shares fall on lack of detail about benefit, safety concerns
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Daiichi Sankyo Co. and partner AstraZeneca Plc shares fell the most in years after a study of their highly-anticipated lung cancer medicine raised questions about its safety and effectiveness.
While the drug significantly slowed progression of the most common form of lung cancer more than standard chemotherapy, it hasn’t yet improved overall survival rates, Daiichi and AstraZeneca said in a statement late Monday. There were also some adverse reactions that led to patient deaths, the companies said, using the technical term of Grade 5 events. No further details were given.