Amgen's (Nasdaq:AMGN) Delays Spread of Prostrate Cancer to Bones

Shares of Amgen (Nasdaq:AMGN) popped after the close on Monday when news the study on its bone drug Xgeva helped delay the spread of prostrate cancer to bones for over a period of 4 months.

Unfortunately, even with that benefit, it wasn't found to extend the lives of victims of the disease.

Executive vice president for research and development at Amgen, Dr. Roger M. Perlmutter, confirmed the benefit was solely in delaying bone metastasis, not increasing the life spans of patients.

He added that there weren't expectations of life extension from the trial, as the majority of participants lived through it.

With extremely low expectations, this is a win for Amgen, albeit on the low side of meaningful results.

If the drug is able to prevent bone metastasis, it is estimated it would add close to several hundred million dollars annually in sales to denosumab, which is considered the future of the company at this time.