Incyte Rises Following Drug Trial Clarification

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Incyte Corp. climbed Friday after the company gave Wall Street more details about the planned design of a trial for a drug designed to treat myelofibrosis, a bone marrow disease.

The company said it will have to send the Food and Drug Administration a new special protocol assessment, which is an agreement between the FDA and a drug maker about how a trial will be designed, and what data would prove the drug is effective.

Late Thursday, Incyte said the single goal of its late-stage trial of INCB18424 will be reducing volume of the spleen by 35 percent compared with placebo. Swollen spleen is a symptom of myelofibrosis.

Incyte still expects to request approval for the drug in late 2010 or early 2011, though the company won't begin enrolling patients until August. Incyte had previously expected to begin enrollment in June.

In afternoon trading Friday, shares of the Wilmington, Del., company rose 32 cents, or 10.9 percent, to $3.25. The stock had lost nearly half its value since January.