AstraZeneca’s pipeline suffers another blow
pharmafile | March 23, 2007 | News story | Research and Development |Â Â Â
AstraZeneca seems likely to abandon another of its drug projects in what is the latest major late-stage failure to have rocked the group's pipeline.
Coronary artery disease treatment AGI-1067, which cost AstraZeneca $50 million in licensing rights from AtheroGenics, did not meet its phase III primary endpoint of a "statistically significant" risk reduction for patients in areas including stroke and heart attack. The group's share price fell as a result of the announcement.
Chief executive David Brennan admitted to The Times late last year that AGI-1067 was "a very high-risk project" for which there was a"low probability" of success. The company has 45 days after completing analysis of the data to decide what to do about its collaboration with AtheroGenics.
AstraZeneca's list of drug troubles in recent years makes grim reading for the company and its investors. Cancer drug Iressa was shown to be no better than placebo in prolonging the lives of lung cancer patients – a huge blow for the company, which had hoped it had an oncology blockbuster on its hands. Peak sales had been forecast at over $1 billion.
Likewise, phase III trials showed its stroke drug Cerovive – licensed from US specialist pharma company Renovis – had no significant effect on reducing stroke-related disability.
Diabetes drug Galida was abandoned after data showed it impaired kidney function. It was all the more disappointing because the PPAR agonist class, of which it was part, has already produced two successful blockbusters, GSK's Avandia and Takeda's Actos.
Meanwhile Exanta, AstraZeneca's novel anti-blood clotting drug and another potential blockbuster, had to be withdrawn on safety grounds after gaining approval in 12 countries. Set to replace warfarin and older blood-thinning products with its simpler oral treatment, Exanta was found to increase liver toxicity.
Six thousand patients with coronary artery disease from the UK, US Canada and South Africa were involved in the AGI-1067 study, which aimed to evaluate the benefits of adding the compound to current therapies.
