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BERLIN (AP) -- Shares of German drugmaker Merck KGaA climbed sharply Tuesday after the company released successful new study results for its cancer drug Erbitux. Shares of biotechnology company ImClone, which developed the drug, soared nearly 24 percent in the U.S. Merck shares rose more than 5.7 percent at 97.56 euros ($134.52) in Frankfurt trading. ImClone Systems Inc., from which Merck bought the Erbitux licensing rights for outside the U.S. and Canada from in 1998, jumped 21 percent to $45.93, up $8. Merck said the phase III study, carried out on patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, showed that when Erbitux was combined with chemotherapy, it led to increased overall survival rates compared with when chemotherapy was used alone. Erbitux is already among Darmstadt-based Merck's top-selling products, and the study results appeared to strengthen its prospects. "Non-small cell lung cancer that has spread from the primary site is extremely difficult to treat so we are delighted with these results," said Wolfgang Wein, the company's senior executive vice president for oncology.
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