Trial: Zyflo flunks mid-stage study for severe acne

Despite reducing lesions among patients with moderate to severe acne, Critical Therapeutics says that its mid-stage trial of Zyflo for acne failed to make a high enough grade to gain FDA approval. In the run-up to a fourth-quarter re-release of Zyflo for asthma, Critical Therapeutics had hoped that the drug could prove effective against severe acne. In a trial involving 600 subjects, people taking Zyflo for 12 weeks had an average reduction of 11.5 lesions compared to 9.1 among subjects taking a placebo. Zyflo is designed to block an enzyme that causes inflammation that leads to asthma and acne. Critical Therapeutics bought the drug last year from Abbott. It was originally approved in 1996.

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