Here's Why Shares Of Onco Genex Pharma Are Plunging

Shares of OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: OGXI), a nano-cap and clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, were trading lower by nearly 25 percent at $0.580 early Thursday morning.

OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals announced after Wednesday's market close that data from its Phase 2 Spruce trial which evaluated the combination of apatorsen with carboplatin and pemetrexed in patients with untreated metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) did not reach the statistical significance required to demonstrate a progression-free survival (PFS) benefit.

"PFS can provide an early signal of activity in lung cancer trials, yet overall survival continues to be the benchmark for determining both clinical and regulatory significance," said Scott Cormack, President and CEO of OncoGenex. "Overall survival results from Spruce expected later this year will inform the future development of apatorsen in lung cancer. We plan to continue to evaluate a potential correlation between Hsp27 and survival benefit in this and other apatorsen trials."