New York August 17 2022: Sanofi is ending development of a key cancer medicine in a blow to the French drugmaker’s pipeline of experimental therapies.
The decision to stop all studies with amcenestrant follows an analysis of late-stage trial data evaluating the drug in patients with a type of breast cancer, the company said in a statement Wednesday.
The move leaves Sanofi even more dependent for growth on blockbuster Dupixent, an antibody treatment for ailments ranging from asthma to severe eczema. The company’s slate of experimental medicines has faced other setbacks, including safety concerns regarding multiple sclerosis treatment tolebrutinib.
Sanofi has included both amcenestrant and tolebrutinib as among six products in its pipeline that it prioritized as “potentially transformative” treatments.
The stock fell as much as 2.4% in early Paris trading.
Some investors are questioning the company’s growth trajectory after both of those medicines encountered problems. UBS analysts last week downgraded Sanofi, saying there are few major catalysts coming soon to drive more excitement to the stock.
Sanofi’s Overreliance on Dupixent Sales Needs to Be Addressed
The shares also got hit last week after investors confronted the company’s potential legal liabilities related to the heartburn drug Zantac. The stock has fallen more than 10% this month alone.
The amcenestrant news isn’t a total surprise. In March, Sanofi announced that the drug had failed in a phase-two clinical test for breast cancer. At the time, the company said development of the therapy would nonetheless continue. That stance changed, however, after it performed poorly again in another trial.
Separately, Sanofi has paused global recruitment for trials of tolebrutinib after an independent data monitoring committee’s recommendation. That decision follows the US Food and Drug Administration’s partial clinical hold of the drug in June amid concerns about liver injury.
