Pharma Blog Watch

The Impact of a Failed Trial (In the Pipeline)
In his blog, Derek Lowe discusses this week's news that AGI-1067, a cardiovascular drug being developed by AtheroGenics and AstraZeneca, failed in a Phase III trial. "They missed their primary endpoint, which was a composite score of cardiovascular adverse events — death, heart attack, stroke, angina, etc.," he writes. "Overall, AGI-1067 was no better than placebo when given along with the standard drugs for this patient population. There's no way to call that good news, and no one's even trying."

"At the same time, though, the company claims to have seen positive effects in some disease states," he continues. "What subgroups those are, and how positive those effects were, won't be known until next week's meeting of the American College of Cardiology in New Orleans. It's impossible to say if this is just wishful thinking, or a drug worth salvaging."

"[AstraZeneca's] pipeline could use some help (not that this distinguishes them very much these days), so they don't want to walk away from something promising," he adds. "At the same time, they can't afford to throw good development money after bad, either. But the stakes are much, much higher for AtheroGenics, since this physiological pathway is basically the platform for the entire company."