InterMune stops Ph III Actimune IPF study

California, USA-based drugmaker InterMune says that it has stopped a Phase III trial of its drug Actimunne (interferon gamma 1b) after it failed to meet pre-defined efficacy criteria in the treatment of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The firm explained that an independent data monitoring committee assessing the program concluded that there was no difference between the overall mortality rate in the drug-treated and placebo groups.

Actimmune is approved as a treatment for the congenital life-threatening illnesses, chronic granulomatous disease and severe, malignant osteoporosis.

Dan Welch, InterMune's president, said that despite the firm's disappointment at the failure of the trial, it was committed to addressing IPF. He said that the company was examining its product pirfenidone in IPF in an ongoing Phase III trial as part of the CAPACITY program, adding that the drug had demonstrated efficacy against the disease in a previously-completed Phase II study (Marketletters passim).