AstraZeneca prostate drug disappointment

27th Sep 2010 07:09

AstraZeneca's prostate cancer treatment zibotentan showed little patient benefit in the first of three late stage trials, the drugs giant has revealed. A phase III study evaluating zibotentan in men with metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer did not show a significant improvement in the primary endpoint of overall survival, Astra said. Based on this study result, AstraZeneca plans no regulatory submissions for zibotentan at this time, the company added.The trial includes two other ongoing studies with zibotentan in different CRPC settings. These include a study in men whose disease has not yet metastasised and a study to evaluate zibotentan plus chemotherapy, versus chemotherapy alone, in men whose disease has metastasised.AstraZeneca has had mixed news from its drug development programme of late. Last week, the US Food and Drug Administration said it has not yet made a decision on its ticagrelor blood thinning drug. US regulators have asked for more data on fledgling respiratory treatment motavizumab, while it also recently paid out compensation to 17,500 users of bi-polar treatment Seroquel.