Myriad discontinues MPC-7869 in cancer

USA-based Myriad Genetics says that its drug candidate MPC-7869 (R-flurbiprofen) failed to meet its efficacy endpoints in a recent multicenter, 246-patient, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial in prostate cancer and therefore the company does not intend to pursue its further development in cancer but will continue to concentrate its efforts on the compound's demonstrated activity in Alzheimer's disease.

Patients participating in the study were assigned to one of three arms (800mg of MPC-7869 once or twice daily or placebo). The two primary clinical endpoints of the trial, both of which the agent failed to meet, were the time to systemic disease progression and the change in velocity of Prostate Specific Antigen levels.

However, Myriad noted that it now has over 1,200 patient-years of safety data on this compound, with a maximum exposure period of 44 months.