Lexicon bowel drug meets main goal of mid-stage trial, shares rise 
October 12th, 2012
Fri Oct 12, 2012 11:47am EDT (Reuters) – Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Inc said its experimental bowel disorder drug met the main goal of reducing bowel movements in patients with gastrointestinal cancer in a mid-stage study, sending its shares up as much as 13 percent on Friday.
[Continue Reading...]
Targacept to cut 38 percent jobs after ADHD drug failure
October 8th, 2012
Mon Oct 8, 2012 9:53am EDT (Reuters) – Targacept Inc said it would cut its workforce to 43, or by about 38 percent, due to the failure of its attention deficit hyperactivity disorder drug, and expects the move to save about $9.6 million per year beginning next year. Last month, the company said it would stop developing the drug, TC-5619, after a mid-stage trial showed that patients in the placebo group had improved more than those taking the experimental drug.
[Continue Reading...]
Targacept attention deficit drug fails study; jobs cut
September 17th, 2012
Mon Sep 17, 2012 10:55am EDT (Reuters) – An experimental treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder from Targacept Inc did not meet the main goal of a mid-stage trial, prompting the company to drop development of the drug and cut jobs.
[Continue Reading...]
Oncolytics lung cancer drug meets main goal in mid-stage trial
September 13th, 2012
Thu Sep 13, 2012 8:14am EDT (Reuters) – Oncolytics Biotech Inc said the first part of a mid-stage trial of its lung cancer drug met the main goal of showing patient response. The U.S. mid-stage trial, which is divided into two parts, is testing Oncolytics’s Reolysin in combination with chemotherapy drugs carboplatin and paclitaxel on patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the lung
[Continue Reading...]
Geron drug fails breast cancer trial, shares sink
September 10th, 2012
Mon Sep 10, 2012 8:32am EDT (Reuters) – Cancer drugmaker Geron Corp said it would halt the study of its experimental drug, imetelstat, as a treatment for breast cancer and the drug was also unlikely to move forward in trials for advanced non-small cell lung cancer, causing the company’s shares to shed nearly half their value. The company stopped the mid-stage breast cancer trial after an interim check showed that the drug was not better than the current standard of care in extending patients’ lives without the disease progressing. Geron also said that though an interim analysis of the non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) study supported a modest benefit from the drug, it was doubtful that company would launch late-stage trials for the indication as success criteria for the mid-stage trial were unlikely to be met.
[Continue Reading...]
Sarepta’s muscle drug shows positive signs, shares jump
August 30th, 2012
Thu Aug 30, 2012 11:29am EDT (Reuters) – Shares of Sarepta Therapeutics Inc rose as much as 20 percent to a 19-month high on Thursday after a Missouri TV station said the company’s experimental drug for muscle weakness and loss of muscle tissue showed positive signs in one of the 12 enrolled patients. The drug Eteplirsen is being tested in a mid-stage trial to treat patients with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), a genetic disorder that causes severe and progressive muscle loss in boys and has no approved treatments.
[Continue Reading...]
TiGenix completes recruitment for arthritis trial
August 8th, 2012
BRUSSELS | Wed Aug 8, 2012 1:34am EDT BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Belgian biotechnology firm TiGenix has recruited enough patients to start a mid-stage trial for its stem cell-based treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, it said on Wednesday. “This is the most advanced stem cell therapy trial in rheumatoid arthritis in the world, and completing the enrolment on time confirms our leadership position in the field,” said chief executive Eduardo Bravo in a statement
[Continue Reading...]
Novavax experimental influenza vaccine meets main goal of study
July 24th, 2012
Tue Jul 24, 2012 5:27pm EDT (Reuters) – Novavax Inc said its experimental influenza vaccine met the main goal of showing safety and inciting immune response in a mid-stage study. The drug, tested on 500 people in Australia, triggered an immune response against all four viral strains after 21 days.
[Continue Reading...]
Repros to submit trial design for oral Proellex
July 16th, 2012
Mon Jul 16, 2012 11:53am EDT (Reuters) – Repros Therapeutics Inc said it will submit to regulators in the next few days a design for a mid-stage trial of an oral version of its tumor drug, Proellex, that could lead to a partial lift of a clinical hold. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked Repros in May to submit safety data from a completed mid-stage trial on the drug.
[Continue Reading...]
Bristol urges combo study with Gilead hepatitis drug
May 31st, 2012
By Ransdell Pierson Thu May 31, 2012 12:14pm EDT (Reuters) – Bristol-Myers Squibb Co renewed its call for biotechnology company Gilead Sciences Inc to test one of its hepatitis C drugs in late-stage trials alongside Bristol’s own promising medicine, following stellar results from a mid-stage trial that combined the experimental products. Bristol’s daclatasvir is from a new class of drugs known as NS5A inhibitors. Gilead’s GS-7977 is a nucleotide polymerase inhibitor.
[Continue Reading...]
