Cephalon hesitates on Ception drug results

Ception is reporting mixed results from a Phase IIb/III trial of Cinquil (reslizumab), a drug for a type of inflammation of the esophagus called pediatric eosinophilic esophagitis. Patients taking the drug experienced a decrease in esophageal eosinophil levels, one of the study's primary endpoints. However, Cinquil patients did not achieve a statistically significant improvement in symptoms when compared with the control arm, the other primary endpoint of the trial. Ception noted in a release that placebo-treated patients experienced an unexpectedly large improvement in their symptoms.

Cephalon has an option to acquire Ception and was waiting for results from the Cinquil trial to act. With the drug's future unclear, Cephalon has decided to wait for results from another trial of Cinquil for eosinophilic asthma to determine whether it will go through with the acquisition.

- here's Ception's release on the results
- read the Reuters report for more

Related Articles:
Cephalon forges $207M deal to acquire Arana
Cephalon pays $100M for option to buy Ception
Ception Therapeutics - Top VC deals of 2007