Debiopharm believes it can succeed with a cancer drug that ran straight into a late-stage brick wall at Pfizer. In a deal announced today, the developer will conduct a Phase III trial of tremelimumab in patients with Stage IV melanoma. The once-promising drug was shelved at Pfizer in 2008 after a safety monitoring board recommended that researchers pull the plug on a Phase III study. The board concluded that the drug would prove no more effective than currently available chemotherapies.
Researchers at two universities reported in November that tremelimumab--an anti-CTLA4 monoclonal antibody--helped activate cells that revved up antitumor immunity. And Debiopharm plans to rely on a biomarker to identify patients most likely to respond. If Debiopharm succeeds where Pfizer's scientists failed, Pfizer will be responsible for commercialization. Terms of the development pact were not released, but it underscores a trend in drug development, in which developers are finding real opportunities to pick up where Big Pharma has left off.
"The continuation of the clinical development of tremelimumab with our partner, Debiopharm, is a demonstration of our commitment to personalized medicine for cancer patients," said Garry Nicholson, president and general manager of Pfizer's oncology business unit.
- check out the press release
- here's the Dow Jones piece