British Biotech resurrects marimastat on new data

British Biotech has announced that positive data from a trial of itsmatrix metalloproteinase inhibitor marimastat in pancreatic cancer suggest that there may still be some potential for the drug, even though the company had previously said it was dropping the project (Marketletter February 19).

BB said that a small number of patients in the pancreatic cancer trial (No 183) had shown a positive effect on survival, despite prior negative studies in various other cancer types, while a similar benefit was seen after two years' follow-up in a previously-reported trial in gastric cancer. Study 183 would be continued "because we cannot rule out some potential benefit of marimastat in this setting," said BB's chief executive Elliott Goldstein.