Jan 22 (Reuters) – Corcept Therapeutics said on Thursday a late-stage trial showed its experimental drug in combination with chemotherapy helped reduce the risk of death in patients with a type of ovarian cancer.
Shares of the drugmaker rose 25% in premarket trading.
Patients who received the drug, relacorilant, in combination with chemotherapy achieved a 35% reduction in the risk of death compared to those treated with chemotherapy alone, Corcept said.
Last year, the drug combination had helped delay progression of the cancer, meeting another main goal of the study.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is set to decide on the drug combination as a treatment for patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer by July 11.
The study tested relacorilant plus the chemotherapy drug nab-paclitaxel against nab-paclitaxel alone in 381 women, whose cancer had stopped responding to standard platinum-based treatments.
Patients who received the combination lived for 16 months on average, compared to 11.9 months for those on chemotherapy alone, the company said.
The drug combination also delayed the time before the disease worsened, with a 30% reduction in the risk of progression.
Corcept said the combination was well tolerated and did not lead to more side effects than chemotherapy alone.
Relacorilant is taken orally and works by blocking the effects of the hormone cortisol, which can help cancer cells survive and resist treatment.
(Reporting by Sahil Pandey in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
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