Drug Trials Halted on Potential Type 2 Treatment
London-based pharmaceutical AstraZeneca, maker of popular drugs Prilosec and Nexium, announced on Friday that it has halted development of a new type 2 diabetes drug due to safety concerns.
The company said that results from late-stage trials of Galida showed that the drug may have worse side effects than was initially believed, including possible kidney damage as a result of elevated serum creatinine levels, and does not show a marked improvement over existing available treatments.
In development since 1992, Galida was billed by AstraZeneca as an improvement in a class known as PPAR agonists, which are designed to control the absorption of fat and sugar in the bloodstream. But expectation for the drug fell last year when safety questions were raised about a similar drug, Pargluva, which was to be marketed by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Merck & Co. Inc.
The decision to pull Galida comes as a blow to the company, following its decision in February to stop development of its Exanta blood thinner and its withdrawal in September of its lung-cancer drug Iressa from the market.
“We have acknowledged that Galida was in a class with a high degree of uncertainty and the decision to discontinue is disappointing,” said David Brennan, AstraZeneca’s chief executive officer.
(via Delaware Online)
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