Cephalon's lestaurtinib disappoints in Phase II trial

Cephalon announced today that its drug candidate lestaurtinib missed its goal in mid-stage trial designed to evaluate the drug for use in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia whose cancer had relapsed after a previous treatment. The study pitted lestaurtinib against standard chemotherapy. Patients receiving a combination of lestaurtinib and chemotherapy produced similar response rates as those who were just treated with chemo, but the drug did not increase the overall survival rate.

"We made a significant financial investment in this pioneering effort to develop lestaurtinib for this molecularly targeted patient population with a poor prognosis and few treatment options," Frank Baldino (photo), Cephalon and CEO said in a statement. "Patients with life-threatening diseases need companies like Cephalon to make that investment and take that risk if we are to improve patient outcomes and the overall cost of healthcare." The company said the study does not impact its financial guidance for the year.

- here's the Cephalon release
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