Benzinga | Jun 4, 2021 10:39AM EDT

Amgen's Stomach Cancer Drug Acquired in Five Prime Buyout Extends Patients' Lives, Mid-Stage Study Shows

* Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN) has announced updated results for investigational bemarituzumab combined with chemotherapy from the Phase 2 FIGHT trial in patients with FGFR2b-positive, HER2-negative frontline advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancers (GEJ).

* Bemarituzumab is the crown jewel of the Five Prime Therapeutics $1.9 billion buyout, which showed the treatment helped patients with advanced stomach cancer live longer.

* Patients taking the treatment and a chemotherapy combination lived a median of 19.2 months, compared to 13.5 months for the patients who took chemotherapy plus placebo.

* Bemarituzumab did even better in a group of 96 patients (62% of the patients) who overexpressed FGFR2b in at least 10% of their tumor cells. The patients taking the bemarituzumab combo lived a median of just over two years (25.4 months) compared to 11 months for those who took chemo and placebo.

* Overall, side effects struck patients in both groups at roughly the same rate (100% versus 99%), but cornea-related effects afflicted more patients taking bemarituzumab than placebo (67% compared to 10%).

* The most common eye-related side effect was dry eye, affecting about 25% of patients.

* Price Action: AMGN shares are up 1.2% at $238.56 during the market session on the last check Friday.