Alexion's heart failure drug, pexelizumab, has suffered a second pivotal trial failure. Researchers say the drug failed to deliver a better outcome than a placebo in reducing death at 30 days after heart bypass surgery. Alexion had trimmed down its study early this year after analyzing negative data for coronary artery bypass graft surgery patients. But Alexion CEO Dr. Leonard Bell says he's already turned his attention to other drug candidates in the pipeline. Chief among them is eculizumab for a rare form of anemia.
"As previously stated, we remain focused on our lead product Soliris (eculizumab) and moving that important therapy toward commercialization for patients suffering from the orphan blood disorder Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria," said Dr. Bell.
- here's the AP report on the study