Bayer and Onyx Pharmaceuticals (ONXX) announced Monday morning that a Phase III study of lung cancer treatment Nexavar did not meet its primary endpoint -- improving overall survival. The two pharmaceutical firms said they were "disappointed" with the failure of the trial and that they will evaluate the findings to see if the data may have any impact on other Nexavar trials.

This trial was measuring Nexavar plus the standard treatment chemotherapy drugs against the chemo drugs alone in patients with newly diagnosed non-small cell lung cancer. Non-small cell lung cancer comprises roughly 85% to 90% of diagnosed lung cancers. Nexavar is already used to treat kidney and liver cancer.

The market's continued choppiness/consolidating pattern does not mean there aren't growth stocks out there for high-risk investors, and Onyx Pharmaceuticals is one pharmaceutical company that fits the bill.

Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ONXX) specializes in small molecule technology, a new, promising method that blocks cancer-causing mechanisms in the human body. In collaboration with Bayer Pharmaceuticals, the company develops and markets compounds that inhibit the function, or modulate the activity of the RAS signaling pathway to treat cancer and other diseases.

Analysts believe ONXX's cancer drug Nexaver as a treatment for advanced kidney cancer could be a big winner, with the company gaining FDA approval for the drug in 2005. ONXX is also testing the drug as a possible treatment for other kinds of cancer (liver, skin, and lung cancer). The Reuters F2007/F2008 EPS consensus estimates for ONXX are -$0.52 to $0.97.

Wall Street's equity market offers a modest plate this week, with three IPOs and four Secondaries on the docket.

Those deals tentatively scheduled to price include:

IPOs:

Tuesday

• Aldabra 2 Acquisition (ALL.U), a 30M-share IPO for this business finance company. Lazard is the lead manager. Filing price: $10.00
• Sterlite Industries (SLT), a 125M-share IPO for this India-based metals company. Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup are the lead managers. Filing price: $13.85.

Thursday

• Care Investment Trust (CRE), an 18.75M-share IPO for this business finance company. Credit Suisse and Merrill Lynch are the lead managers. Filing range: $15.00-$17.00.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Onyx Pharmaceuticals (ONXX) and CommVault (CVLT) top the list of today's initiations.

• Citigroup started Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ONXX) with a Hold rating and $22 target as the broker expects shares to be range bound until clarity is given into the company's cancer indications. A bunch firms initiated recent IPO CommVault Systems this morning, including IPO managers First Boston and Goldman Sachs.
• Goldman started shares of CommVault Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVLT) with a Buy and $21 target, and added shares to its prestigious Conviction Buy List, as they expect the company to benefit from relationships with DELL and HDS. First Boston is more lukewarm on the name, starting shares with a Neutral rating and the same target of $21. Other firms' imitating the stock this morning was Merrill Lynch with a Buy, and Thomas Weisel and RBC Capital with Outperform ratings.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Caris initiated three retail names this morning: American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEOS), Limited Brands, Inc. (NYSE:LTD) and Men's Wearhouse, Inc. (NYSE:MW). The broker favors Limited and Men's Wearhouse with Above Average ratings, thinking inventory and cost management can bring margin expansion. Caris is less excited about American Eagle, starting shares with an Average rating, believing shares are fairly valued at current levels.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).