Oric Pharmaceuticals stock price plummeted due to the market withdrawal of Tazverik

Investing.com – Oric Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ORIC) stock fell 18.5% on Monday after Ipsen announced it would withdraw all indications for Tazverik (tazemetostat) in all markets.

The withdrawal was prompted by secondary hematologic malignancies observed in the Phase 3 SYMPHONY-1 trial for relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma, which evaluated the efficacy of Tazverik combined with lenalidomide and rituximab. An independent data monitoring committee recommended discontinuing the treatment due to potential risks outweighing the benefits for patients.

Wolfe Research analyst Kalpit Patel maintained a Peer Perform rating, stating that this withdrawal is a negative signal for the broader EZH2 inhibitor field, despite differences in clinical settings. Pfizer’s mevrometostat and Oric’s rinzimetostat are being developed for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, whereas Tazverik’s issues are in follicular lymphoma.

Patel noted that investors might be concerned that any significant safety signals related to secondary hematologic malignancies could cast a lasting shadow over other drugs with overlapping EZH2 biological activity until the field can better demonstrate whether these issues are specific to certain treatments or molecules.

Jones Trading analyst Soumit Roy maintained a Buy rating and a $25.00 target price, noting that Tazverik has FDA approval for treating epithelioid sarcoma and for third-line or later follicular lymphoma patients with EZH2 mutations, with a warning about secondary malignancies in the label.

Patel expects Oric’s stock to weaken in the near term but to retain most of its recent gains, anticipating the release of Mevpro-1 data around mid-year. The next move for Oric’s stock may depend on the results of Mevpro-1 and Pfizer’s final decision on the development pathway.

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