Positive clinical trial results for a drug candidate to treat lung cancer have sent shares of Robert Duggan’s biotechnology company and his net worth soaring.
Article by Kerry A. Dolan for Forbes US – translated by Flora Lucas
It’s a real boost for shares of biotechnology company Summit Therapeutics, which more than tripled following good news about a drug candidate to treat a type of lung cancer. The 272% rise in Summit Therapeutics’ shares more than doubled pharmaceutical billionaire Robert “Bob” Duggan’s fortune to $7.5 billion in one day, according to estimates from Forbes.
“It’s not bad for a day’s work.”joked Robert Duggan, president and co-CEO of Summit Therapeutics, in a telephone interview with Forbes. “I used to mow lawns for 50 cents a day. » Robert Duggan owns approximately 78% of Summit Therapeutics’ shares. The company’s co-chief executive, Maky Zanganeh, who owns about 5% of Summit Therapeutics’ shares, has a fortune estimated at nearly $500 million, according to estimates from Forbes.
Summit Therapeutics and ivonescimab
Shares soared following a statement released by Summit Therapeutics that interim data from a Phase 3 trial of its drug candidate ivonescimab outperformed that of Merck’s blockbuster drug Keytruda for patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. For comparison, cancer immunotherapy drug Keytruda generated sales of $25 billion last year, which would make it the world’s best-selling drug.
Maky Zanganeh explains why Summit Therapeutics’ stock likely rose so much: “No one has ever beaten Ketryuda before. »
In December 2022, Summit Therapeutics announced that it would license the experimental cancer drug from Hong Kong-listed Akeso for $500 million upfront and an additional $4.5 billion. whether certain regulatory or commercial milestones are reached. The drug candidate is an antibody that combines the effects of cancer immunotherapy and prevention of new blood vessel growth (anti-angiogenesis) in a single molecule. The phase 3 trial on 600 patients is being conducted in China by Akeso, a partner of Summit Therapeutics. Patients receive infusions every three weeks.
The primary goal of the clinical trial is to measure the progression-free survival of patients taking ivonescimab compared to Keytruda. Summit Therapeutics’ statement indicates that the company’s drug candidate “demonstrated statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement” compared to Keytruda, but does not provide specific details. Full data from the trial will be presented at a medical conference later this year, probably in September, Maky Zanganeh told Forbes.
Robert Duggan’s successes
Robert Duggan’s first major success in drug development came with Pharmacyclics, a publicly traded biotechnology company of which he became CEO in 2008. One drug in the company’s catalog, Imbruvica, is has become a successful treatment for B-cell cancers, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), a common form of leukemia in adults. Pharmaceutical giant AbbVie bought Pharmacyclics in 2015 for $21 billion.
In 2020, Robert Duggan purchased more than 60% of the shares of Nasdaq-listed Summit Therapeutics for $63 million and became its CEO. The company, founded in 2003, had not generated much revenue. When Forbes spoke with Robert Duggan in fall 2020, he was banking on Summit Therapeutics’ success with a new antibiotic against the common but deadly infection Clostridium difficile (C. diff). Although the drug showed promise when tested against existing antibiotics, Robert Duggan ultimately decided he did not want to spend $100 million more on a new trial. “It didn’t make sense to me.”he explains. “Let’s pivot to oncology. This will be much more beneficial for patients than struggling with generic antibiotics. »
Since the ivonescimab trial results come from an interim analysis, there is no guarantee that the drug candidate will continue to outperform Keytruda, Merck’s flagship product. Although the outlook appears promising, shareholders and patients will have to wait for further data.
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