According to updated results from an early stage clinical trial presented on Saturday, an experimental cancer drug from Loxo Oncology performed even better in patients with a rare mutation of the RET gene than previously reported. Last month, Loxo released preliminary data that revealed its drug, LOXO-292, targeting RET mutations shrank tumors in 69 percent of advanced cancer patients regardless of whether their disease originated in the lung, pancreas or thyroid.
Loxo shares rose 20 percent on the news.
Researchers said on Saturday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago, that the new results, which included more patients as well as months of treatment, showed an overall response in 77 percent of those with RET fusion mutations who received the Loxo pill.
