Here's Why Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Is Surging Today
Shares of Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPPI), a biopharmaceutical company primarily focused on cancer and blood-based disorders, are rising in response to some surprising early stage data for a potential new lung cancer drug. Although there isn't much data to chew on, data that suggests poziotinib could become king of an important drug class has lifted the stock 18.6% as of 12:37 a.m. EDT Wednesday.
Drugs that dial back epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) activity such as Erbitux and Tarceva are blockbuster drugs and more recent launches that focus on specific mutations that increase EGFR activity are following in their footsteps. Tagrisso targets a specific mutation, called T790, that makes tumors resistant to Erbitux and Tarceva. It's a limited population, but the drug is already on pace to reach the $1 billion in annual sales threshold this year, its second full year post-approval. Investors are pushing up Spectrum shares because it looks like the company has a fancy new drug candidate that inhibits EGFR activity caused by a family of genetic aberrations that often occur along exon 20 of the EGFR gene.
Image source: Getty Images.
Source: Fool.com