GSK Slumps After Blood Cancer Drug Blenrep Falls Short in Clinical Trial

By Geoffrey Smith 

Investing.com -- GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) stock fell over 4% on Monday after the U.K.-based pharma company said its experimental bone-marrow cancer drug DREAMM-3 (Blenrep) failed to meet primary endpoints in a late-stage clinical test.

The trial indicated Blenrep was no more effective than existing treatments for multiple myeloma, a type of bone marrow cancer that kills around 13,000 people a year in the U.S.

The trial failure is a setback for the U.K. group, which has made oncology one of its top priorities in a new, slimmed-down structure after spinning off its consumer health division, Haleon. GSK's board had taken the decision to split the company hoping that the rump - GSK would command a higher market valuation as a pure pharma play. 

Blenrep had received preliminary approval from regulators in Europe and the U.S. to be used in multiple myeloma patients who had exhausted the current treatment possibilities.

GSK said additional trials within the DREAMM clinical trial program will continue. These trials will aim to show the benefit of Blenrep in combination treatment with novel therapies and standard-of-care treatments in earlier lines of therapy.

The company expects data from the DREAMM-7 and DREAMM-8 phase III trials in the first half of 2023. These are combination treatment trials, designed to test the efficacy of Blenrep in combination with bortezomib and dexamethasone, and pomalidomide and dexamethasone, respectively.

By 10:00 AM ET (15:00 GMT), GSK stock was down 4.2% in London trading, below the level it found immediately after the spin-off. Haleon accounted for more than 25% of the group's value at the time.