Latest marimastat data due in February

British Biotech has announced that both Phase III clinical trials of itsoral matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor marimastat in patients with small cell lung cancer have now been completed, and results should be unveiled at the end of February. After disappointing data from five other pivotal trials of the anticancer agent in other indications (Marketletters passim), marimastat's performance in these SCLC trials is likely to seal its fate.

BB has licensed worldwide rights to marimastat and its other MMPIs to Schering-Plough, with the exception of Japan and certain other Far Eastern territories, where Tanabe Seiyaku has development rights.

The results of BB's own trial of marimastat in SCLC, Study 140, will be shared with the investigators of the second trial, Study 117, conducted by the National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group and the European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer, before either dataset is revealed. The latter trial is due for presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in San Francisco in May.