Another failure for AstraZeneca

7th Feb 2011 07:05

AstraZeneca's run of disappointing drug development results has continued with the early end to a trial of prostate cancer treatment zibotentan.The advanced trial on the drug's impact on men with non-metastatic, castrate resistant prostate cancer has been scrapped after the early results showed it had no benefit to the patient. The decision follows the failure of zibotentan in a trial of men with metatastic prostate cancer last September. Metatastic cancers can spread to other parts of the body.A trial is still underway evaluating zibotentan's effectiveness with chemotherapy in more advanced cases. This trial will continue and full results are expected in the second half of 2011, Astra said.The pharmaceutical giant has suffered a number of setbacks to its drug development programme in recent months. It stopped all development work on its fledgling respiratory drug motavizumab in December, resulting in a $445m impairment charge. It is also still trying to get the US authorities to approve potential blockbuster blood thinning drug Brilinta, after an unexpected delay following concerns over disparities in test results on US patients compared to elsewhere.