Last week biopharmaceutical firm ImClone Systems
OSI Pharmaceuticals'
No targeted therapy is going to be a wonder drug that works against all cancer types, since the composition of solid tumors varies by type of cancer and between people. This negative outcome in Erbitux as a treatment for front-line pancreatic cancer is a good example of this adage, and it was just two weeks ago that ImClone announced contrasting study results that Erbitux was successful in the front-line setting for head and neck cancer.
Erbitux is now at least temporarily blocked out of on-label sales in pancreatic cancer, but investors in shares of ImClone will be inundated with new Erbitux data that could improve the drug's label in the next several months with the all-important American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting coming up in the beginning of June.
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Fool contributor Brian Lawler does not own shares of any company mentioned in this article.