Thursday, May 23, 2013

Legacy Schering-Plough Parkinson's Candidate (SCH 420814) No Better Than Placebo; Phase III Program Terminated.


The chemical name of the candidate was (is) Preladenant (SCH 420814). Kudos to Merck, I guess -- for promptly sticking a fork in it -- and not waffling about other potential redesigns.

[Insert here my usual rant about legacy Schering-Plough CEO Fred Hassan's [non-] pipeline dreams. I'm even boring myself, with this stuff -- so repetitive, right?] I'd guess that between them, Schering-Plough and Merck spent north of $400 million from early-concept, to the latest three Phase III studies, on this.

From the presser:
. . . .The Phase III clinical program for preladenant included three randomized, controlled clinical trials to evaluate safety and efficacy. Two of these studies assessed preladenant when added to levodopa therapy in patients with moderate-to-severe PD, and one assessed preladenant as monotherapy in early PD. More information about the preladenant Phase III clinical trials is available on www.clinicaltrials.gov. . . .


And. . . yet another one bites the dust. Thanks, Fred! [We can't spell "Failure" without. . . U!]

No comments: