ExonHit, bioMerieux nix colon cancer program

French drugmakers ExonHit Therapeutics and bioMérieux have decided against pursuing their collaboration in colon cancer after a recent review of data by a scientific committee. Both companies say they will continue to collaborate in the field of prostate cancer.

"ExonHit's technology was able to produce a robust and reproducible test however, the final results from the colon cancer program did not reach the level of performance we were aiming to achieve. Therefore, we have decided together with bioMérieux to focus our efforts on the prostate cancer program,"  Loïc Maurel, president of the management board of ExonHit, says in a statement.

In European trading, ExonHit lost 4.9 percent to €3.32 ($4.53), but BioMerieux, which makes tests for HIV and hepatitis, jumped 4.1 percent to €83.61 ($114.15), according to the Financial Times.

- check out the press release
- read the Financial Times article

Related Article:
BMS inks $413M pain pact with Allergan