Tazverik safety scare puts pressure on Oric

Ipsen and its Chinese partner Hutchmed have withdrawn their EZH2 inhibitor Tazverik from the market after disclosing cases of secondary haematologic malignancies in the confirmatory Symphony-1 study in relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma. Ipsen is stopping the trial, which had been evaluating evaluating Tazverik plus Revlimid and Rituxan, and is withdrawing Tazverik in relapsed follicular lymphoma and epitheloid sarcoma, where the drug has held accelerated approval since 2020. Tazverik only sold €41m in 2025, so this isn’t such a big deal for Ipsen, but it could be bad news for Oric Pharmaceuticals, whose lead project, rinzimetostat (ORIC-944), hits PRC2, whose subunits include EZH2. Jones research analysts were keen to note that rinzimetostat, which is in phase 1 in prostate cancer, was “mechanistically distinct” from Tazverik, adding that there hadn’t been any evidence of secondary malignancies in Oric’s data. Pfizer is also developing an EZH2 inhibitor, mevrometostat, that has also so far been unaffected; that project’s Mevpro-1 study, in post-Zytiga castration-resistant prostate cancer, is due to read out this year. Jones added that prostate cancer was meaningfully different from follicular lymphoma, but this hasn’t stopped investor jitters; Oric’s shares sank 14% on Monday.

Tazverik approvals & pivotal trials

Source: OncologyPipeline.