ZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss drugmaker Novartis said on Saturday that its investigational spartalizumab immuno-oncology drug mixed with the approved medicines Tafinlar and Mekinist failed in a late-stage trial for a type of advanced skin cancer.
The drug did not improve progression-free survival in previously untreated patients with BRAF V600 mutation-positive cutaneous melanoma, compared to Tafinlar + Mekinist alone, Novartis said.
Despite the failure, Novartis is continuing development of spartalizumab, a so-called checkpoint inhibitor thought to help take the brakes off the immune system in fighting cancer, against other kind of tumors, the Basel-based company said.
Author: Canan Schuman, PharmD/PhD
Canan Schumann is Chief Editor for Axxiem and for Axxiem's blog "BiotechOntheWeb". When not writing for Axxiem, Canan works as a Clinical Research Scientist II at the Research and Development Department at Molecular Testing Labs, developing endpoint assays for the detection of infectious disease and cancer. Canan currently resides in Portland, Oregon, where he received his Honors Bachelor of Science (HBS), Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD.), and his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Biopharmaceutics at Oregon State University.