Boston, MA 09/03/2014 (wallstreetpr) – According to recent reports, Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) has decided to slash around 160 jobs due to failure of protest cancer trial. The stock prices of EXEL hit all time low after it announced that its drug Cometriq failed at a later stage. The company was trying to find a solution for a special kind of prostate cancer for quite some time.
What EXEL had to say:
The Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) said that early results of the study conducted by its research team revealed that patients suffering from metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer lived around 11 months after getting treated with Cometriq. At the same time when patients suffering from the same disease were given corticosteroid known as prednisone, they survived for as long as 9.8 months (on an average basis). Although there is a significant difference between Cometriq and prednisone on papers, but practically it could not have been proved by a study conducted by the research team of the company.
The Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) was supposed to conduct a Phase II study of Cometriq along with Zytiga of Janssen Biotech. The study was to be done in relation with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. The Cometriq was earlier approved two years back in November 2012 for medullary thyroid cancer. Around 700 people were diagnosed with this type of cancer at the time, this study was conducted. At the same time, prostate cancer could be a huge market for the drug as number of people suffering from prostate cancer were way more than the ones suffering from thyroid cancer.
Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) announced the job cut decision on the occasion of Labor Day. Investors reacted adversely and sent the stock down before market opened on Tuesday. The stock of EXEL went down as much as 55% in a single day which was biggest negative growth that EXEL had experienced in the near past.
