Regeneron faces Wall Street downgrades after high-profile melanoma drug fails to beat Merck's Keytruda

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:REGN), the US biotech group, fell premarket trading on Monday after its most closely watched clinical trial of the year delivered a statistical miss that has prompted a wave of analyst downgrades. The company disclosed on Friday that its phase 3 trial of fianlimab, combined with its approved immunotherapy cemiplimab, as a first-line treatment for advanced melanoma did not reach statistical significance on its primary goal of improving progression-free survival compared with Merck's established cancer drug Keytruda.