Here’s a quick roundup of some news on experimental drugs:
Two pills for multiple sclerosis fared well in clinical trials published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine. One, Novartis’s fingolimod, was tested against a placebo and against Avonex, a form of interferon sold by Biogen Idec. The other, Merck KGaA’s cladribine, was tested against a placebo. (The main findings of the studies had previously been reported.)
Current drugs for MS are given via injection or infusion, so the convenience of oral drugs would be an improvement for patients. But, as the WSJ notes, the studies of fingolimod and cladribine suggested that the drugs may have serious side effects that will have to be weighed against the potential benefits.
A new approach to treating clostridium difficile showed promise. C. diff is a nasty bug that causes severe diarrhea, and tends to flourish in patients who have previously taken powerful antibiotics. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine found C. diff patients who received combination of two experimental biotech drugs (monoclonal antibodies) in addition to antibiotics were less likely to have a C. diff relapse than patients who received antibiotics and a placebo. The Phase 2 study, which needs to be confirmed by a larger trial, was funded in part by Medarex, a Bristol-Myers Squibb subsidiary that was a developer of the drug. Merck bought rights to the drug in a deal last year.
An HIV drug failed in late-stage trials, Merck said. The drug, vicriviroc, is the same class as Pfizer’s Selzentry. Dow Jones Newswires notes that analysts’ expectations for sales of vicriviroc were modest, because Selzentry’s sales have been relatively low.
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