CancerVax and its drug development partner Serono have decided to abandon an experimental treatment for malignant melanoma after concluding in a late-stage trial that the drug was unlikely to register a statistically significant improvement over a placebo. This was the second strikeout for Canvaxin, which was licensed to Serono. In April researchers said they could find no big improvement in patients with advanced melanoma. The decision to discontinue work on Canvaxin was almost immediately followed by a swift dip in the Carlsbad, CA-based company's stock and a follow-up announcement that CancerVax would restructure, reducing its workforce from 183 to 80.
"This restructuring will allow us to focus our resources on the development of the other product candidates in our pipeline and, potentially, to explore the acquisition of additional promising products and technologies," said David F. Hale, president and CEO of CancerVax. "We will continue to review our resource requirements as we refine our strategies over the coming weeks."
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