Tecemotide, Merck KGaA's 9-lived cancer vaccine, has flunked another clinical trial, missing its main goal in a Japanese study and casting further doubts on the program's future. Oncothyreon ($ONTY), the German drugmaker's partner on the project, revealed that the treatment failed to measure up on overall survival in a Japanese study on 178 patients with non-small cell lung cancer, also missing its three secondary endpoints. Merck KGaA is pulling the plug on any plans for a Japanese Phase III effort, Oncothyreon said, planning to further "review the implications of these results for the ongoing tecemotide program" around the globe. The drug, formerly Stimuvax, failed a Phase III trial on similar patients back in 2012, but Merck KGaA kept its faith after charting a benefit in certain subpopulations. More