Poniard fully enrolled for SCLC trial

Poniard, a US biopharmaceutical company focused on oncology, has reached its enrollment target of 400 patients in the pivotal Phase III SPEAR  trial of picoplatin in patients with recurrent small cell lung cancer  who have failed prior platinum-containing, first-line chemotherapy or  who have progressed within six months of first-line therapy.

The multicenter, randomized, controlled trial compares picoplatin plus  best supportive care, to best supportive care alone, to evaluate the  efficacy and safety of picoplatin after relapse. Results will be  reported later this year.

"The data from this trial is event-driven and we expect that the overall  survival data from the SPEAR trial will show a significant survival  advantage compared to patients who receive best supportive care alone,"  said chief medical officer Robert De Jager. "We believe this is the  first important step to provide a new treatment option for the many SCLC  patients who do not achieve clinical benefit from current first-line  therapies. This would be a significant accomplishment for this  aggressive tumor type that has very few Food and Drug  Administration-approved drugs," he added.