Today Foamix (FOMX) announced positive Phase 2 Results for its FDX104 foam treatment. The FDX104 treatment was used to treat patients with moderate to severe skin rashes. These patients had these rashes because of treatments they took for either their head, neck or colon cancer. Two drugs used to treat these cancers are Erbitux(R) from Eli Lilly (LLY) and Vectibix(R) from Amgen (AMGN).
Both of those drugs are known as epidermal growth factor receptor antibody inhibitors — EGFRI. They cause antibodies in patients’ bodies to react violently, causing severe forms of rashes. The results today from Foamix showed that treatment with FDX104 significantly reduced rashes. In other words, the phase 2 trial met on the primary endpoint of achieving statistical significance.
The rash, known as Acneiform, is a common side effect when patients take EGFRI drugs. It is important to clear these rashes because patients are severely impacted, and occasionally discontinue use of the drugs they need to help with their cancer. With Foamix, these patients will be less inclined to ditch the EGFRI drugs they desperately need.
The trial recruited a total of 24 patients and the FDX104 treatment from Foamix was shown to be superior to placebo — matching foam vehicle in the study. This is an important finding because currently there are no treatments that handle side effects for EFGRI drugs that induce rashes. Shares of Foamix are up 16% on this positive phase 2 news, up to $9.25 per share.
