Schrödinger stops development of blood cancer therapy after two patient deaths

Audio By Carbonatix

(Reuters) -Schrödinger said on Thursday it has stopped the development of an experimental drug after the death of two patients with a type of blood cancer in an early-stage trial, sending its shares down nearly 17% before the bell.

The company was testing the therapy, SGR-2921, in patients with high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes, a group of blood cancers in which the bone marrow doesn’t produce enough healthy blood cells, and its more serious form – acute myeloid leukemia.

The drug was considered to have contributed to the deaths of two AML patients in the trial, the company said.

“While disappointing given the early clinical activity observed, we believe this is the right decision for patients,” Chief Medical Officer Margaret Dugan said.

In pre-clinical trial, the therapy showed responses against the cancer, which suggested SGR-2921 could ultimately be used in combination with standard of care treatments, the company said.

The experimental drug was designed to work by blocking CDC7, a protein that helps cancer cells repair DNA damage during replication. By inhibiting this protein, the drug causes cancer cells to accumulate fatal levels of DNA damage.

(Reporting by Kamal Choudhury in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)