National Cancer Institute Halts Drug Trial

Researchers have closed a randomized clinical trial comparing gefitinib (IressaTM) vs. placebo following chemotherapy and radiation for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that had spread only to nearby tissues or lymph nodes. Review of interim data indicated that gefitinib would not improve survival. The clinical trial was sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., and was conducted by a network of researchers led by the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG), Ann Arbor, Mich. AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP, Wilmington, Del., which manufactures gefitinib, provided the agent for the trial under the Clinical Trials Agreement with NCI for the development of gefitinib. Iressa is a drug that inhibits an enzyme (tyrosine kinase) present in lung cancer cells, as well as other cancers and normal tissues, that appears to be important to the growth of cancer cells. Based on a review of the limited data available from the Phase III clinical trial, the Data Monitoring Committee overseeing the trial (known as S0023*) recommended the closure, as the trial would not meet its primary endpoint of improved survival. Detailed results from the study will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting (ASCO) on May 14, 2005.