Hello, I’m Selina McKee and here are today’s news headlines on Tuesday 12 December.
Bayer’s pipeline has suffered another blow with the news that its clotbuster alfimeprase, an enzyme developed by US partner Nuvelo that rapidly breaks down bloodclots by attacking their internal fibrin scaffolds, has failed to meet its targets in two Phase III trials investigating its use in narrowing of the arteries and unblocking catheters.
Although the firms seemingly remain confident in the drug’s future, Nuvelo’s stock sank on the news, falling over 80% at one stage, and, while Bayer’s share price was not heavily impacted, another failure in the clinic is unlikely to impress investors.
But it was not all doom and gloom for Bayer, as its newly-acquired Schering AG and partner Genzyme Corp presented encouraging Phase III data for their cancer drug Campath as a first-line therapy for B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
The 297-patient trial, data for which was presented at the American Society of Hematology in Orlando, showed that Campath was able to reducing the risk of disease progression or death by 42%, and the firms are now planning to seek approval to change the product’s labelling so that patients can be treated earlier in the course of their disease.
That’s all from me today, tune in again tomorrow for more industry headlines
