Lorus Therapeutics says that its pivotal Phase III trial for its pancreatic cancer therapy Virulizin combined with gemcitabine demonstrated a significant benefit for patients, but not a big enough advantage to qualify for regulatory approval. New clinical data will be needed before it can file for regulatory approval, an obstacle that will add time and expense to the development process. The Canadian drug developer said that patients taking Virulizin had a median survival time of 10.9 months compared to 7.4 months for patients on a placebo. Researchers noted that some subgroups also demonstrated promising survival times.
"Virulizin significantly improved survival in pancreatic cancer patients who remained on the treatment arm even when treatment with the standard-of-care chemotherapy gemcitabine was no longer effective," said Dr. Jim Wright, CEO of Lorus.
- read this release for more information