Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. (CLDX), Galena Biopharma Inc (GALE): Good And Bad Breast Cancer Drugs

Herceptin is approved to prevent breast cancer recurrence in those who are HER2 +3, or those expressing the highest of HER2 levels. According to Galena, less than 30% of breast cancer patients are eligible for Herceptin, insinuating that the remaining 50-75% would be eligible for NeuVax. The problem is that Galena Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ:GALE) is yet to prove that NeuVax works on any patient population. My theory is that if NeuVax were good, Roche would’ve acquired it, and the vaccine wouldn’t have been acquired for $7 million by RXi Pharmaceuticals — I mean Galena Biopharma.

Conclusion

Wouldn’t it be great if every biotechnology company that failed a clinical trial could remove the patients who caused the study to fail and only focus on the select few that showed some level of improvement? That’s exactly what Galena Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ:GALE) has done!NeuVax was tested on 187 patients – but 137 patients are being removed from the failed study so Galena can focus on 50 who did not redevelop breast cancer. Naturally, if breast cancer’s recurrence rate is only 20% then surely Galena could find 50 from 187 who didn’t redevelop the disease – but it doesn’t mean that NeuVax was the cause.

Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLDX) has already proven that its drug works. CDX-011 has already extended life, slowed progression, and had a high response rate in 120 patients. To me, it is clear which product has the highest upside in the breast cancer market. When you consider CDX-011’s sales potential of $700 million and the fact that Celldex has a large pipeline with one other late-stage brain cancer drug, I think it’s clear that Celldex makes a great investment.

Sherrie Stone has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.

The article Good And Bad Breast Cancer Drugs originally appeared on Fool.com.

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