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news.Cancer drug developer Antisoma says new data from its Phase II trial of ASA404 showed that the experimental ovarian cancer drug did not increase the median time to tumour progression when added to chemotherapy.
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Additionally, one-year survival rates were 74% for the ASA404 arm and 92% for the control arm. Since the majority of patients in both arms were alive after one year, median survival values have not been determined.
Based on these data, development in ovarian cancer will not be a priority for the company.
Antisoma has been testing ASA404 in several cancer types and previously reported a 5-month increase in median survival when the drug was added to chemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer.
Antisoma licensed ASA404 to Novartis in April 2007. Novartis plans to start enrolling patients into a Phase III trial in non-small cell lung cancer early in 2008 and to explore the potential benefits of the compound in various other solid tumours.
Glyn Edwards, Antisoma’s CEO said, “our ovarian cancer trial has not produced positive results like those seen with ASA404 in lung cancer. More broadly, we’re very pleased with the progress made by Novartis to date with ASA404 in lung cancer and look forward to working with them to fully evaluate the drug in other cancers.”