Investors in Erasca are experiencing tough times. The company’s shares are losing value due to what happened in the clinical trials of one of its drugs.
Erasca fights cancer. Bad news hit investors
A cancer patient withdrew from a clinical trial and soon died from the onset of serious side effects related to the treatment.
It concerns a 66‑year‑old man who came to the emergency department with symptoms of severe pneumonia.
These appeared about a month after starting therapy and ultimately led to death after discontinuation.
All of this happened after a San Diego‑based company released data from the early phase of a clinical trial of its experimental pancreatic and lung cancer therapy. The company said its drug was generally well tolerated. Adverse events occurred but were fairly mild.
In patients with KRAS G12X non‑small cell lung cancer, ERAS‑0015 showed a 62‑percent unconfirmed overall response in second‑line or higher therapy at doses of 16‑32 mg once daily. In KRAS G12X pancreatic cancer patients in second‑line therapy, the drug showed a slightly lower, 40‑percent unconfirmed overall response at the same dose range.
“Although it is probably an isolated patient case, it introduces tension in the context of an otherwise mild safety narrative and raises questions about attribution and reporting consistency,” said Andres Y. Maldonado, HC Wainwright analyst.
However, it is worth noting that this new news is the second strong blow to the drugmaker in a few days.
On Monday, Erasca received a cease‑and‑desist letter from competing firm Revolution Medicines Inc., which claims that Erasca’s anticancer therapy contains elements covered by its patent.
As a result, there was a partial capital swap between the companies.
Revolution Medicines shares rose on Tuesday by 10%. At the same time, Erasca’s securities plunged by almost 50%.
“We expect short‑term pressure on the shares until we gain greater transparency both in the changing safety profile and the litigation process,” added Maldonado, maintaining a buy recommendation for Erasca.
Not everyone is optimistic, though. According to TD Cowen analyst Marc Frahm, Erasca’s safety reports raise many questions, and he still considers Revolution Medicines a “decisive leader” in the industry, while also supporting a buy recommendation for that company’s shares.
Meanwhile, Bank of America Securities raised Erasca’s target price to $9 from $2, while keeping an “underperform” recommendation for the shares.
This happened after the company released data on ERAS‑0015, its pan‑RAS inhibitor. The bank judged that the probability of the company’s success is rising.
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Erasca shares after turbulence. Double‑digit drop raises many questions
Erasca’s stock price closed on Tuesday, April 28, down 48,3% to 9,90 USD.
Thus the upward trend that had been running since the beginning of 2026, when the company’s shares rose by a total of 166,85%, was interrupted.
Chart. Erasca stock price
Source: TradingView.
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Source: Bloomberg.
