Aranesp flunks late-stage trial for breast cancer

Good news is hard to come by at Amgen. The company's slipped on Friday after the biotech giant announced that its fading anemia blockbuster Aranesp failed a late-stage study for breast cancer. Combined with chemotherapy, there was no indication that the combinatorial approach helped shrink tumor sizes in early-stage breast cancer victims. And in the long-term follow-up, researchers said that there were more deaths and tumor progression in the Aranesp group than in the control group. Amgen has been restructuring as it deals with a cutback in the use of anemia drugs.

- see this release
- check out the report on the trial