La Jolla shelves Riquent, shares plummet

Investors swiftly wiped out 82 percent of La Jolla Pharmaceutical's stock value after learning that its lupus drug--Riquent--was being shelved after an interim analysis revealed negative late-stage results. Riquent is La Jolla's only clinical-stage drug in development.

In a terse statement released this morning, La Jolla said that the monitoring board "informed the company that they have completed the first interim efficacy analysis and determined that continuing the study is futile. The company has decided to stop the study, unblind the data and evaluate the results." The FDA asked for more data on Riquent back in 2004 as a condition for approval.

The decision to halt development was also a blow to BioMarin Pharmaceutical, which agreed to co-develop the drug only a month ago. Its shares slipped four percent on the news.

"While the results of this first interim efficacy analysis are obviously disappointing, we decided to take a calculated risk on this program and with the carefully staged agreement, we have spent a total of $15 million, a relatively modest amount for a late Phase III asset addressing a large market opportunity," said Jean-Jacques Bienaime, the CEO of BioMarin. In early January Bienaime said that Riquent had the potential to become BioMarin's largest product.

- read La Jolla's release
- check out the statement from BioMarin

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