ImClone stock dived 8 percent this morning when researchers announced that a late-stage trial of Erbitux as a first-line therapy for advanced lung cancer flunked its primary endpoint of progression-free survival as assessed by an independent radiology review committee. Researchers, though, put the best spin on the data that they could, noting that secondary endpoints--including response rate--"were statistically significant and favored the Erbitux-containing arm."

"We consider lung cancer to be a high priority and await the results of other Phase II and Phase III evaluations of ERBITUX in the first- and second- line setting with chemotherapy regimens," said ImClone medical chief Eric K. Rowinsky.

- for more on the data, see the release [1]
- read TheStreet.com report [2] on ImClone

Related Articles:
Erbitux data underscores leaked disappointment. Report [3]
ImClone buoyed by new Erbitux data. Report [4]
Erbitux data could gin extra $350M in sales. Report [5]
Analysts raise doubts on Erbitux ruling. Report [6]
ImClone touts survival rate in Erbitux cancer trial. Report [7]