Oncothyreon's L-BLP25 Did Not Meet Primary Endpoint in Lung Cancer Trial

Oncothyreon

today announced that the pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial of L-BLP25 (formerly referred to as Stimuvax®) known as START did not meet its primary endpoint of an improvement in overall survival in patients with unresectable, locally advanced stage IIIA or stage IIIB non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).  The trial was conducted by Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA of Darmstadt, Germany, under a license agreement with Oncothyreon. Despite not meeting the primary endpoint, notable treatment effects were seen for L-BLP25 in certain subgroups. Further analyses are planned in the coming weeks to explore the potential benefit-risk profile of L-BLP25 in certain populations. Merck Serono will discuss these data with external experts and regulatory authorities over the coming months.  More detailed results from the START trial will be submitted for publication in a peer reviewed journal and presentation at upcoming scientific meetings. "We believe that the START study will offer important scientific insights to the potential for immunotherapies in the treatment of this devastating disease and we intend to discuss these data with scientific community and regulatory authorities to gain their