Summit Therapeutics' Stock Soars 225% After PD-1 Drug Ivonescimab Outperforms Keytruda in PFS NSCLC Trial in China

May 30, 2024, 07:10 PM

Summit Therapeutics' stock ($SMMT) surged by 225% following the announcement that its drug Ivonescimab, a PD-1 inhibitor, achieved a clinically meaningful benefit over Merck's Keytruda (Pembrolizumab) in a Phase III trial. The trial, named HARMONi-2, met its primary endpoint of progression-free survival (PFS) for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with PD-L1 expression. This unprecedented result caused Merck's ($MRK) shares to drop by 1.20% before rebounding slightly. BioNTech ($BNTX) shares also rose by 10% on the news. Summit's stock experienced multiple trading halts, with the second halt occurring at a 137% increase and close to $10 per share. The market cap of Summit Therapeutics is now estimated at $5 billion. The trial data was collected in China.