Apexigen's Shares Fall After Data From Gastric Cancer Candidate

Apexigen Inc APGN announced the presentation of new data from a Phase 2 trial evaluating sotigalimab (sotiga) in combination with neoadjuvant chemoradiation for resectable esophageal and gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancers.
Sotiga combined with neoadjuvant chemoradiation for esophageal/GEJ cancers was generally safe and well tolerated.
Most patients had Grade 1-2 adverse events (AEs).
There were no patient withdrawals due to sotiga and no sotiga/neoadjuvant chemoradiation-related deaths.
Encouraging pathologic complete response (pCR) rates were observed in patients with both adenocarcinoma (AC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).
Of the 29 evaluable patients, 11 (38%) patients had a pCR, and 19 (66%) patients had an mPR (significant pathological response) with less than 10% of the residual tumor remaining after treatment.
The pCR rate was 41.2% for patients (n= 17) receiving four doses of sotiga versus 33.3% for patients (n= 12) receiving three doses.
R0 resection was achieved in 86% (25/29) patients, and progressive disease was only 7%.
Price Action: APGN shares are down 8.02% at $7.00 during the premarket session on the last check Monday.