Celgene Corp. shares dropped 1% in premarket trade Thursday after the company said that the Food and Drug Administration has placed a partial clinical hold on five clinical trials and a full clinical hold on one trial. All of the trials involved are testing the anti-PD-L1 antibody durvalumab, which is part of a class of cancer drugs called checkpoint inhibitors. The FDA’s decision was due to risks seen in other trials for another checkpoint inhibitor, Merck & Co.’s anti-PD-1 antibody pembrolizumab, in combination with immunomodulatory agents. For the trials on partial clinical holds, patients who are benefiting from treatment can stay on the therapy. In the trial with a full clinical hold — which is testing a durvalumab combination in multiple myeloma — patients will be discontinued from treatment; no new patients will be enrolled in any of the six trials, which are in multiple myeloma, lymphoma or chronic lymphocytic leukemia and large B cell lymphoma. Two mid-stage trials with durvalumab, one in myelodysplastic syndromes or in elderly acute myeloid Leukemia and the other in myelodysplastic syndromes, will continue to enroll, Celgene said. Celgene has been developing and commercializing durvalumab for hematologic malignancies with AstraZeneca since 2015. AstraZeneca shares rose 1.3% in premarket trade. Celgene shares have risen 19.2% over the last three months, compared with a 1.3% rise in the S&P 500 .
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