Deja Vu As Yet Another Sepsis Drug Fails

Celltech and Bayer have become the latest in a string of companies tohave a candidate drug for sepsis fail in late-stage trials. The long-awaited results of a large Phase III trial of Norasept (BAYX-1351), involving 1,900 US patients, has shown that the drug performed no better than placebo in limiting mortality in patients with septic shock.

While Celltech had only a minority interest in BAYX-1351, the company's shares plummeted once it became clear that it would not continue to develop a second-generation, humanized version of the antibody, CDP 571, for sepsis. The company is also collaborating with Bayer on this drug, which calls it BAY10-3356.

Celltech had negotiated rights to market BAYX-1351 in three markets, the UK France and Ireland, in return for granting Bayer rights to CDP 571. Had the BAYX-1351 trial been successful, Bayer would have been obliged to fund the development of the follow-up for sepsis and other applications. Bayer must now decide whether it will return its rights to CDP 571. The company has now stated clearly that it has no further interest in septic shock, but CDP 571 has also shown promise in other diseases, which could also have significant revenue potential (see later).