Bristol-Myers Squibb has New Jersey locations in Hopewell, New Brunswick, Plainsboro, Princeton and West Windsor.
In this file photo, Rep. Rush Holt, second from left, meets with Bristol-Myers Squibb scientists, from left, Liang Schweizer, Francis Cuss and William Bullock. An immunotherapy drug for lung cancer failed in a drug trial, the company announced last week. (Robert Bruschini | Bristol-Myers Squibb)TRENTON -- The field of immunotherapy research suffered a setback Friday when pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb announced a lung cancer drug had failed a trial testing its success as an alternative treatment to chemotherapy.
The clinical trial was testing the drug Opdivo's success as a first-line immunotherapy drug instead of chemotherapy for patients with advanced lung cancer. But the drug failed to demonstrate it had slowed the progression of the disease, according to The New York Times.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has already approved the drug, Opdivo, to treat metastatic melanoma, or skin cancer that has spread to another part of the body, and small cell lung cancer that has not responded to chemotherapy, according to the company's website.
"While today's news...is disappointing, Bristol-Myers Squibb is proud of all that the company has and aims to accomplish with Opdivo," according to a statement the company released Friday. "We are indeed transforming cancer care, and remain committed to bringing the benefit of our medicines to the greatest number of patients across multiple cancers."
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Mark Schoenebaum, a pharmaceutical analyst at the investment firm Evercore ISI called the result "a major surprise - possibly the biggest clinical surprise of my career."
Bristol-Myers Squibb, a pioneer in the promising field of immunotherapy, suffered a 14.6 percent decline of its stock value following the announcement, according to Barron's. BMS' rival, Merck stands to gain as a less-aggressive clinical trial for its drug, Keytruda showed success in June.
Bristol-Myers Squibb, an international company based in New York, has New Jersey locations in Hopewell, New Brunswick, Plainsboro, Princeton and West Windsor.
Immunotherapy is a growing and promising field of scientific research that harnesses the body's natural defenses to fight cancer.
Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.