Eli Lilly says late-stage trial of pancreatic cancer treatment failed to meet its main goal of overall survival

Eli Lilly and Co. said Wednesday a late-stage trail of a treatment for pancreatic cancer did not meet its main goal of overall survival. The company said detailed results of the phase 3 trial called Sequoia evaluating pegilodecakin plus FOLFOX (folinic acid, 5-FU, oxaliplatin) compared to FOLFOX alone in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer will be presented at a future medical meeting. Metastatic pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest major cancers with just 3% of patients that are diagnosed in the U.S. surviving five years after being diagnosed. The disease is the third leading cause of cancer deaths and is expected to become the second leading cause in the next 10 years. "While we are disappointed by the outcome of the SEQUOIA study, we look forward to the upcoming results in lung cancer, learning from those results and increasing our understanding of pegilodecakin's novel mechanism of action in cancer immunotherapy," Maura Dickler, vice president of late phase development at Lilly Oncology said in a statement. Eli Lilly shares were not yet active premarket, but have fallen 5% in 2019, while the S&P 500 has gained 19.5%.

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