ImClone Systems Inc. stock goes down

ImClone Systems Inc. stock went down after the biopharmaceutical company and its partner Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. declared that Phase III study of Erbitux missed its target in cancer patients.

Photo: ImClone Systems Inc. stock goes down

Shares of ImClone fell $3.10, or more than 7 percent, to $39.25 in afternoon trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Bristol Myers shares rose 6 cents to $27.72 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The New York-based drug companies said that the study of Erbitux plus a chemotherapy drug in patients with inoperable or metastatic pancreatic cancer did not meet its primary endpoint of improving overall survival.

The study, conducted by the Southwest Oncology Group, compared Erbitux plus the chemotherapy agent gemcitabine with gemcitabine alone in more than 700 patients with pancreatic cancer in the first-line treatment setting.

ImClone's chief medical officer Eric Rowinsky said the company will continue to explore how Erbitux can improve the outcome for pancreatic cancer patients.