Shares of Ziopharm Oncology fell nearly 14 percent Friday after a cancer patient died soon after being injected with the company's experimental cancer therapy.
The Boston-based biopharmaceutical company, which owns and acquires a portfolio of cancer therapies, is running an experimental treatment on patients with an aggressive primary brain tumor. This type of cancer, called Glioblastoma, has one of the lowest survival rates among cancers, the company said.
"These patients are all, unfortunately, medically fragile," Ziopharm said in a statement. "The first two patient deaths, which occurred 6.7 months and 3.9 months after treatment, were unrelated to study drug."
This week, a third death was reported. The company said it is "collecting and analyzing information in order to properly and timely report it to the FDA."
The patient died of an intracranial hemorrhage, which happened after the patient had been discharged from the treatment center.
"This is an isolated case, and there have been no reported related instances of brain hemorrhage in any pervious cohort or prior studies ," the company said.
Shares traded near $4.89, and are down more than 18 percent this week and 40 percent year to date.