Gilead Sciences said Monday that Trodelvy, its “smart-bomb” medicine that combines an antibody with chemotherapy, did not significantly extend the lives of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer when given after a first treatment failed.
The result, from a closely watched study called Evoke-01, will be seen as a disappointment by investors and oncologists alike.
Drugs like Trodelvy, known as antibody drug conjugates, are one of the hottest areas in oncology. The idea is that these medicines combine an antibody, which is triggered when it binds to a protein on a cancer cell, with a “payload” of chemotherapy that poisons the cancer.