Mixed Ph II data on AstraZeneca's Recentin

Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca says that its HORIZON III Phase II/III head-to-head study of Recentin (cediranib) with chemotherapy versus Swiss drug major Roche's Avastin (bevacizumab) with chemotherapy in first-line metastatic colorectal cancer will be progressing directly into Phase III at 20mg following a review of Phase II data by the independent Data Monitoring Committee.

However, in non-small cell lung cancer, the DMC disclosed an "imbalance in toxicity" in the BR24 trial, leading the London-headquartered firm to decide not to progress into Phase III testing in this indication. The toxicity seen in the study appears not to be related to any single event and so other, smaller Phase II trials in lung cancer remain ongoing. Analysts at Evolution Securities noted that the delay in the Phase III lung cancer program means that a filing for this indication originally planned for 2010 will not go ahead. AstraZeneca is working in close collaboration with the National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group, which helped conduct the BR24 trial to further understand the data. The firm stressed that the cediranib development program also includes trials in recurrent glioblastoma and a number of signal search studies in other tumors.