Genmab shares rose after the Danish biotechnology company and partner AbbVie said a drug combination to treat lymphoma met the primary goal in a late-stage clinical trial.
Shares in Genmab were up 6% in European morning trading Tuesday, recouping some of the stock's year-to-date losses, leaving it down 10% since the start of 2026. AbbVie was little changed in U.S. premarket trading.
AbbVie and Genmab said a combination of their jointly developed drug Epkinly and Bristol Myers Squibb's Revlimid achieved positive results in a trial with patients with a type of blood cancer known as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma who had received at least one treatment before.
The drug combination showed a significant improvement in the time patients survived without the disease worsening compared with the standard-of-care therapy, hitting the trial's primary objective, the companies said. The trial pointed to improved efficacy in a chemotherapy-free combination treatment regimen, they added.
The results of the trial meet the efficacy bar set by Roche's Columvi and Lunsumio while offering a chemo-free option, analysts at Jefferies wrote in a note to clients. Importantly, the results also reduce risk for a bigger opportunity for the drug combination as a first-line treatment, they added.
AbbVie and Genmab said they would engage global regulatory authorities to discuss next steps.
Epkinly is a so-called bispecific antibody designed to bind to two proteins to trigger an immune response to kill cancer cells. The drug is approved to treat certain lymphoma indications, but AbbVie and Genmab continue to evaluate it as a standalone therapy and in combination with other drugs in a range of blood conditions.
Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 30, 2026 05:11 ET (09:11 GMT)
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