(AOF) – Arcus Biosciences is expected to rise more than 30% before the opening on Wall Street. The American laboratory specializing in combination therapies against cancer has benefited from the publication, inadvertently by its Swiss competitor Roche, of positive data from an interim analysis of a clinical trial on lung cancer. This is an analysis of interim data on the new immunotherapy tiragolumab, which is part of an experimental class of drugs known as anti-Tigit: Arcus also operates in this category.
iTeos Therapeutics, a competitor of Arcus also present in this niche, is for its part expected to rise by 42% in pre-market.
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Biotechs put to the test
These companies are suffering from a much less favorable economic cycle, which is reflected in particular by a drop in financing by venture capital for start-ups. These companies are therefore obliged to carry out redundancy plans. Added to this is a much more restrictive regulatory framework. First, in the United States, the measures linked to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) could have a strong impact on the margins of the participants. Indeed, from 2026, the federal Medicare program will be able to renegotiate the price of drugs marketed for nine years (chemicals) or 13 years (biologicals), with discounts that could range from 35 to 60% for biotechs. Similarly, in Europe, with the new drug regulations presented in Brussels in April, the duration of patent protection will be reduced if the innovative treatment is not marketed in all member countries within two years.