MedImmune's Abegrin shows promise in study

US firm MedImmune, a specialist developer of drugs for cancer, infectious and inflammatory diseases, says that it has additional preclinical and clinical data showing that its anticancer agent Abegrin, a monoclonal antibody, formerly known as Vitaxin, has the potential to provide a new three-pronged approach to the treatment of solid tumors. The findings support those from a previously-announced Phase II examination of the product in patients with metastatic melanoma, which suggested that the compound prolonged patient survival. The firm says that based on the results, it intends to move the product into Phase III assessment. The results were presented at the American Association of Cancer meeting in Washington DC, earlier this month.