Cancer
Some 90% of investigational drugs fail—and success rates are even more dire in the neuro space. Here, BioSpace looks at five clinical trial flops that stole headlines over the past 12 months.
Incyte is abandoning its ALK2 blocker zilurgisertib, which it was trialing for myelofibrosis-associated anemia, while iTeos will deprioritize the development of inupadenant after it failed to meet the biotech’s clinical bar in a Phase II study of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.
Pfizer, facing increasing pressure from Novartis, is touting a Phase III win for Ibrance as the first clinical evidence supporting the CDK4/6 inhibitor class’ use in patients with a specific type of breast cancer.
Candel’s trial was conducted under the FDA’s Special Protocol Assessment program, meaning that its data could be used as a basis for a regulatory application.
With nearly 90% of patients showing no detectable cancer cells after treatment, J&J and Legend’s Carvykti could stave off competition from emerging CAR T therapies such as Gilead and Arcellx’s anito-cel.
BNT327, now in early-phase trials, is part of a class of drugs that could one day challenge Keytruda’s dominance. BioNTech obtained the candidate when it bought Biotheus last month in an acquisition deal that could reach up to $950 million.
GSK, Gilead and Arcellx, Vertex and more present new data at the American Society of Hematology annual meeting just as sickle cell therapies Casgevy and Lyfgenia have a new outcomes-based payment model; Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk pump new funds into manufacturing; and AbbVie makes a Cerevel comeback while uniQure clears a path toward accelerated approval in Huntington’s disease.
The overall survival edge over J&J’s Darzalex will help GSK strengthen its case as it plots the market comeback of Blenrep, which was pulled after a failed confirmatory study.
Anito-cel has shown no signs of delayed neurotoxicity at around 9 months of follow-up, hinting at a safety profile that could set it apart from J&J and Legend’s Carvykti.
According to Jake Van Naarden, president of Lilly Oncology, the excess deaths could be due to the high rate of crossover in BRUIN CLL-321.
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