siliconinvestor.com
Catching up with the news...
<SAN DIEGO, Jun 10, 2002 (BW HealthWire) -- IDEC Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NASDAQ: IDPH chart, msgs) announced today that it has voluntarily placed a clinical hold on all ongoing clinical trials for its anti-CD40 ligand monoclonal antibody, IDEC-131.
As part of IDEC's ongoing product evaluation, a safety risk of thromboembolism was identified, and in the interest of patient safety the Company took immediate action to halt all investigational studies. The Company said it was working closely with the FDA and its investigators on this issue and that the INDs for these studies will remain on clinical hold pending an evaluation of this safety issue.
Paul C. Grint, M.D., IDEC's chief medical officer, said, "Our principal concern is the well-being of patients involved in our studies, and for that reason we felt it prudent to put a hold on all IDEC-131 trials. It is too early to say what this development means for the program. We need to further study the relationship, if any, between the drug and the safety risk."
The IDEC-131 monoclonal antibody is a humanized anti-CD40 ligand immunoglobulin that is currently in Phase II studies in patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenia purpura (ITP), Crohn's disease, psoriasis and multiple sclerosis....contd... >
Well, every cloud has a silver lining. Imagine being a tumour and trying to maintain a standard of living when a blood clot has cut off oxygen supplies.
Maybe the clotting would stop the radioactive iodine getting to the tumour, but maybe the radioactive part is the sticky part and clots only form where enough of the stuff has collected.
Watching this space,
Mqurice |
