Agouron Shares Hit As Roche Cancer Deal Ends

Agouron Pharmaceuticals has announced that it has agreed to terminateits collaboration with Swiss group Hoffmann-La Roche in the field of cancer, which began in June, 1996. As a result of the agreement, Roche will make an undisclosed final payment, while Agouron regains all marketing rights to its anticancer drugs.

Agouron also said it has decided to discontinue further development of one of the drugs from the collaboration, the thymidylate synthase inhibitor Thymitaq (nolatrexed dihydrochloride) for the treatment of head and neck cancer, after disappointing results from Phase II/III trials.

Drain On Resources While the drug is effective, it is not sufficiently superior to alternative therapies, so further development would involve a considerable drain on resources. Peter Johnson, Agouron's president, said that the company would now concentrate its resources on two earlier-stage anticancer agents, AG2034 and AG3340, which Agouron claims have greater commercial potential.