Incyte Reports Phase 1 Data to ESMO: 81% Response Rate on Pancreatic Drug

Adam Feuerstein is a senior biotechnology writer and columnist, reporting on the intersection of drug development, business, Wall Street and biotechnology. He is also co-host of the weekly biotechnology podcast The Readout Loud and author of the Adam’s Biotech Scorecard newsletter. You can reach Adam on Signal at stataf.54.

MADRID — A targeted drug from Incyte, when used in combination with chemotherapy, induced durable tumor responses in some pancreatic cancer patients — results, the biotech said, that support its earlier decision to advance the treatment to a late-stage clinical trial.

The approval of Revolution Medicines’ pancreatic cancer drug Rasonque earlier this year showed that a drug capable of attacking mutations in a group of genes called RAS could extend the survival of patients with this particularly aggressive cancer.

Today, companies like Incyte, Revolution Medicines, Verastem and China’s Hengrui are developing next-generation drugs that selectively target specific mutations within the RAS gene family, seeking better patient outcomes.