Shares of Abraxis BioScience Inc. got a good push on Monday after the Los Angeles-based biotech presented weekend data that favorably compared its Abraxane cancer drug with a leading competitor in a head-to-head trial.

A weekly injection of Abraxane increased tumor response rate by more than 60 percent, and resulted in fewer side effects compared with Sanofi-Aventis SA’s Taxotere regimen, according to interim data presented Sunday at the 29th Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

Abraxis shares jumped nearly 5 percent to close at $29.24. Abraxane’s approved label only indicates the drug as a follow-on treatment for metastatic breast cancer after earlier treatments have failed, but the company is seeking to prove that it should be considered a first-line treatment.

The company said it plans to launch a Phase III trial comparing the two chemotherapy drugs in the first half of 2007. The drugs are forms of paclitaxel that work to interfere with cancer cell growth.

“We find this interim and early report versus Taxotere compelling but do not expect them to influence sales materially at this point,” said Lazard Capital Markets analyst Megan Murphy.

Murphy expects that follow-up presentations at the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in June and publication of the full study in a medical journal will do more to boost lagging Abraxane sales and encourage health insurers to reimburse the drug as first-line treatment.