Galera Therapeutics Shares Rise Primary Endpoint Met Statistical Significance in Corrected Topline Efficacy Data
Dec 14, 2021 By MarketDepth
Galera Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRTX) shares jumped more than 115% on Tuesday after the clinical stage biopharmaceutical company that corrected results from its Phase 3 ROMAN trial of avasopasem for the treatment of RT-induced severe oral mucositis (SOM) in patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer (HNC) achieved statistical significance on the primary endpoint of reduction in the incidence of SOM. Avasopasem has been granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation (BTD) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the reduction of SOM induced by RT.
The corrected p-values are as follows:
- 16% relative reduction in the incidence of SOM in the avasopasem treatment group (54%) vs. placebo group (64%) (p=0.0451*) (previously reported as p=0.113) (primary endpoint)
- 56% relative reduction in the number of days of SOM in the avasopasem treatment group (8 days) vs. placebo group (18 days) (p=0.0022*) (previously reported as p=0.011) (secondary endpoint)
- 27% relative reduction in the severity (incidence of Grade 4 OM) of SOM in the avasopasem treatment group (24%) vs. placebo group (33%) (p=0.052) (previously reported as p=0.167) (secondary endpoint)
“Given the high unmet medical need for patients with head and neck cancer who develop radiotherapy-induced severe oral mucositis, we are gratified that the Phase 3 ROMAN trial achieved statistical significance on the primary endpoint after the correction of the statistical programming error. ROMAN is our second randomized trial conducted in patients with head and neck cancer to achieve statistical significance and demonstrate improved clinical benefit. As we continue to analyze the full data set and evaluate our resources, we look forward to meeting with the FDA in 2022 to discuss whether the results from this single Phase 3 trial together with the randomized Phase 2b trial could support an NDA submission.”
Mel Sorensen, M.D., President and CEO of Galera
Approximately 42,000 HNC patients undergo standard-of-care RT every year in the U.S. and are at risk of experiencing SOM, painful mouth sores that impact the ability to eat and drink. In market research, both radiation oncologists and patients cite SOM as the most burdensome RT toxicity in HNC treatment. Currently, there are no FDA approved drugs to reduce the incidence or duration of SOM in solid tumors.
“In parallel, our anti-cancer therapeutic trials in lung and pancreatic cancer, which we refer to as the GRECO-1 and GRECO-2 trials, respectively, are currently enrolling, and we look forward to reporting initial data from our GRECO-1 trial in the first half of 2022. Both trials combine our second dismutase mimetic candidate, rucosopasem, with stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) with the goal of augmenting the anti-cancer efficacy of SBRT.”
Mel Sorensen, M.D., President and CEO of Galera
Galera Therapeutics focuses on the development and commercialization of therapeutics for the transformation of radiotherapy in cancer.
