Cardiff Oncology Shares Sink on Mixed Trial Update; Corbus Sets ESMO Data Reveal

Shares of Cardiff Oncology fell about 20 percent in early Wednesday trading after the company released an updated cut of data from its randomised Phase 2 study of onvansertib in first-line RAS-mutated metastatic colorectal cancer. In the 110-patient CRDF-004 trial, the higher 30 mg dose of the polo-like kinase-1 inhibitor achieved a confirmed objective response rate of 49 percent compared with 30 percent for the control arm receiving Avastin plus chemotherapy, narrowing the gap seen in an earlier, smaller data set. Analysts noted that baseline imbalances and the smaller-than-expected difference raised questions about the robustness of the result. Cardiff, which also reported a wider-than-forecast second-quarter loss and lower-than-expected revenue, said the new data are sufficient to engage the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on a potential registrational programme later this year. Separately, Corbus Pharmaceuticals said an abstract detailing dose-expansion results from its Phase 1/2 study of CRB-701, a next-generation antibody–drug conjugate that targets Nectin-4, has been accepted for presentation at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress in Berlin on 19 October 2025. The three-part trial has evaluated four dose levels between 1.8 mg/kg and 4.5 mg/kg every three weeks and is now optimising doses of 2.7 mg/kg and 3.6 mg/kg in head-and-neck, cervical and metastatic urothelial cancers, with a recommended Phase 2 dose expected in the fourth quarter of 2025.