Bristol Mayer's Failure Is Merck & Co's Success In Lung Cancer Market

On Friday Morning,

reported results from the CheckMate-026 Study, stating cancer-treating Opdivo did not meet the primary endpoint. Prior to the news release, Bristol Mayers was halted. Upon resumption shares plunged 18.36 percent. "Opdivo has become a foundational treatment that is transforming cancer care across multiple tumor types. While we are disappointed CheckMate -026 did not meet its primary endpoint in this broad patient population, we remain committed to improving patient outcomes through our comprehensive development program, including the ongoing Phase 3 CheckMate -227 study exploring the potential of the combination of Opdivo plus Yervoy for PD-L1 positive patients, and Opdivo plus Yervoy, or Opdivo plus chemotherapy in PD-L1 negative patients" said Giovanni Caforio, CEO. As the price action has shown, this was a huge win for

. Shares of Merck in the pre-market session rallied up as the company's KEYTRUDA has been viewed as Opdivo's long standing competitor. At the time of writing Merck & Co. traded at $63.60, up 9.96 percent in Friday's pre-market. Expanded use of Opdivo has been on the market since March 4th 2015 for treating lung cancer.