Reuters: Global Markets: Synta shares jump on positive cancer drug data

Reuters: Global Markets Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Synta shares jump on positive cancer drug data Oct 1st 2012, 16:27 Mon Oct 1, 2012 12:27pm EDT (Reuters) - Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp (SNTA.O) shares jumped nearly 14 percent on Monday after the drugmaker said interim results from a mid-stage study of its experimental cancer drug with a larger patient population showed positive results. Updated results from the study, announced on September29, allayed concerns over the drug's effectiveness, prompting at least two analysts to raise their price targets on the stock. Synta's shares had lost a third of their value on June 28 after the company reported initial interim results. The news was not well-received as the company had said the sample size was small and not enough to prove statistical significance. The mid-stage study, which evaluated results of 172 patients, compared with the previously reported analysis of 114 patients, showed good tolerability and meaningful improvement in overall survival in patients with non-small cell lung cancer. "If confirmed on final maturity, this overall survival benefit would be highly robust," Jefferies analyst Thomas Wei wrote in a client note. The study named GALAXY is evaluating Synta's drug, ganetespib, in combination with docetaxel as treatment against adenocarcinoma, a form of non-small cell lung cancer. GALAXY has an intended study population of 240. At the time of analysis of the current data, 187 patients were enrolled. Jefferies's Wei said he is encouraged by the data as it suggests that much of the overall survival occurs late. "Effects of (ganetespib with docetaxel) on survival appear to be trending in the right direction and we are encouraged by key opinion leaders' positive opinions," Roth Capital Partners analyst Joseph Pantginis wrote in a note. Shares of Lexington, Massachusetts-based Synta were up 12.7 percent at $8.58 on the Nasdaq. (Reporting By Pallavi Ail in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions