Alarmed by signs that patients in a late-stage lung cancer drug study were afflicted by a higher rate of adverse events than the volunteers in a placebo arm, Pfizer says it opted to halt enrollment until it can gain a better understanding of what is happening. The adverse events, which include deaths, were flagged by an independent monitoring board overseeing the Phase III figitumumab trial.

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As in many cancer trials, researchers were looking for an improved combo effect. In this trial, they matched figitumumab (or CP-751,871) with paclitaxel and carboplatin. Another arm was treated with paclitaxel and carboplatin. The experimental drug is an IGF-1R inhibitor, which is intended to block insulin-like growth factor. Patients already enrolled in the trial will continue to receive treatment under the supervision of their doctor. And a separate trial that matches the drug with Tarceva will continue.

For Pfizer the enrollment halt represents one more hitch among a series of problems that have
plagued its R&D efforts. Pfizer recently announced plans to merge with Wyeth in an effort to rejuvenate its pipeline work.

Source: FierceBiotech

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