Incyte Shares Fall after Combo Drug with Merck Failed in Study

Shares of Incyte fell 20% on Friday after a combo therapy with drug giant Merck failed in a study.
In a melanoma combo therapy that combined drugs from Incyte and Merck, failed to meet the main goal in a study.

Incyte’s epacadostat, an IDO inhibitor that blocks an enzyme that protects tumors from the immune system, did not bolster the effectiveness of Merck’s Keytruda drug on skin cancer patients.

This could be worrisome for Incyte who has signed deals with both AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers to test the drug candidate.

Tony Butler, an analyst with Guggenheim, said that because epacadostat did not provide any additional benefit above Keytruda, “we assume the probability of success of other studies with epacadostat is zero.”

The study evaluated epacadostat and Keytruda on patients that have metastatic melanoma and compared their results to those who were on Merck’s Keytruda monotherapy.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ: INCY) nor Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK) and have not been compensated for this article.