ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. presented long-term follow-up data from the pivotal phase II PACE study on its leukemia drug Iclusig at the Conference of the European Hematology Association.

The PACE study evaluated the efficacy and safety of Iclusig in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients who are resistant or intolerant to Bristol-Myers Squibb Company’s (BMY Quick QuoteBMY - Free Report) Sprycel or Novartis AG’s (NVS Quick QuoteNVS - Free Report) Tasigna or patients with the T3151 mutation.

Data from the study revealed that patients when treated with Iclusig continued to experience anti-leukemic activity with a median follow-up of four years for chronic phase CML (CP-CML). In addition, 96% of the CP-CML patients who underwent dose reductions for Iclusig while in response maintained their major cytogenetic responses at the four-year time point. Moreover, overall survival at four years was estimated at 77%.

Apart from the PACE study, ARIAD has two additional ongoing studies evaluating Iclusig – OPTIC dose-ranging study and OPTIC-2L study in second-line CP-CML.

We note that Iclusig is ARIAD’s only marketed drug approved both in the U.S. and EU. Meanwhile, the company has a couple of candidates in its pipeline including brigatinib (phase II – for the treatment of certain patients with a form of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)) and AP32788 (phase I/II – for the treatment of patients with NSCLC with specific mutations in EGFR or HER2).

ARIAD is a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock. A better-ranked stock in the health care sector is Bio Blast Pharma Ltd. sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

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