Novartis ends phase III trial of Tasigna

pharmafile | April 12, 2011 | News story | |  GIST, Glivec, Novartis, Tasigna 

Novartis has stopped a late stage study of Tasigna for certain types of stomach cancers after it failed to show superiority to the standard treatment.

The decision was taken after Tasigna (nilotinib) failed to show superiority to Novartis’ own Glivec, the current first line treatment for unresectable and/or metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST).

Glivec is approved for both chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) and as the standard treatment for first line treatment of GIST, making Novartis $4 billion last year as its second biggest seller.

But it is set to go off patent in 2015 and Novartis is hoping that Tasigna will step up to replace Glivec, given that it is already licenced in the US to treat CML.

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Analysts were predicting sales of an extra $500 million if Novartis gained an additional licence in treating GIST, but these hopes now look to be dashed.

Novartis said it remained committed to advancing treatment options for patients with GIST and will continue to explore studies for these patients.

Ben Adams

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