Shares of Alfacell Corporation (NASDAQ: ACEL), a biopharmaceutical company engaged primarily in the research and development of novel ribonuclease (RNase) enzymes for various therapeutic applications, declined sharply last week after the company released the preliminary Phase IIIb trial results of its lead compound ONCONASE®. The findings concluded that the compound did not meet statistical significance for the primary endpoint of survival in unresectable malignant mesothelioma (UMM).
The Phase IIIb trial was designed to show a statistically significant improvement in overall UMM patient survival (p