Novacea, Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVC) has ended its Phase III ASCENT-2 clinical trial of Asentar(TM) (DN-101). Unfortunately this is Novacea’s lead investigational cancer therapy for the treatment of patients with androgen-independent prostate cancer.
The trial halt is due to an imbalance of deaths between the two treatment arms, as observed by the Data Safety Monitoring Board for the clinical study. Schering-Plough (NYSE:SGP) is Novacea’s partner on this candidate and both companies plan to fully analyze the clinical data resulting in higher death rates in the Asentar plus Taxotere treatment group.
The study was comparing the benefits of weekly Asentar plus Taxotere to the current standard of care in the treatment of androgen-independent prostate cancer. To date, more than 900 of the planned total of 1,200 patients were enrolled in this study at multiple centers in various countries, including the United States, Canada, Germany, and Central Europe.
If you look at Novacea’s pipeline, you’ll see that Asentar is the bulk of the efforts. It’s going to be a long road ahead for the company.
Shares of Novacea (NOVC) are trading down 65% to $2.50 in pre-market activity. Friday’s close was $7.19 and the prior 52-week trading range was $5.60 to $17.25. Before the implosion, Novacea’s market cap was $169.19 million. Biotechs blowing results are rarely good, but when its a Phase II or Phase III and it is your lead candidate it is as bad as one can imagine.
Jon C. Ogg
November 5, 2007
Get Ready To Retire (Sponsored)
Start by taking a quick retirement quiz from SmartAsset that will match you with up to 3 financial advisors that serve your area and beyond in 5 minutes, or less.
Each advisor has been vetted by SmartAsset and is held to a fiduciary standard to act in your best interests.
Here’s how it works:
1. Answer SmartAsset advisor match quiz
2. Review your pre-screened matches at your leisure. Check out the advisors’ profiles.
3. Speak with advisors at no cost to you. Have an introductory call on the phone or introduction in person and choose whom to work with in the future
Get started right here.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.