By Sahil Pandey
May 19 (Reuters) – Relay Therapeutics said on Tuesday a mid-stage trial showed its experimental treatment can shrink vascular malformations and improve symptoms in patients with rare vascular disorders, sending its shares more than 13% higher in premarket trading.
• Relay’s zovegalisib reduced lesion size by at least 20% in about 60% of patients at 12 weeks.
• Nearly all patients showed some reduction in lesion size and remained on treatment at the data cut-off, the company said.
• Around 89% of doctors and 79% of patients reported improvement in symptoms such as pain and swelling at 12 weeks.
• The treatment showed activity in patients previously treated with medicines such as alpelisib and sirolimus, Relay added.
• “With a mutant-selective approach, zovegalisib is able to achieve clinical activity with a much better tolerability profile,” Don Bergstrom, president of R&D, told Reuters.
• No patients discontinued treatment due to side effects, and serious side effects were limited, according to the company.
• Lower doses appeared suitable for long-term use, while a higher dose was not considered suitable for further development in this patient group, the company said.
• “There have been no discontinuations on our study to date due to adverse events and currently all patients remain on therapy,” Bergstrom said.
• Relay said the results support a more targeted approach that could avoid side effects seen with older drugs in the same class.
• The company is enrolling more patients at selected dose levels in the next stage of the study, it added.
• Zovegalisib is also being developed for breast cancer and received U.S. “breakthrough therapy” status in February in combination with fulvestrant for certain patients with advanced disease.
• Vascular anomalies are rare conditions where blood or lymph vessels grow abnormally, leading to pain, swelling and other complications.
(Reporting by Sahil Pandey in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
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