Monsanto abandons two cancer drugs
Thursday, February 11, 1999
By Robert Steyer
Of The Post-Dispatch
Monsanto Co. said Wednesday that it has stopped research on two cancer
therapy drugs. The announcement comes nearly four weeks after the company
decided to stop work on two drugs designed to prevent blood clots.
Company officials said the economic impact of the cancer medications was far
less than the loss of the two anti-clotting medications, on which Monsanto spent
more than 10 years of research.
Monsanto had called the anti-clotting drugs "potential blockbusters," products
that could yield annual sales of $750 million or more.
That's a term Monsanto has used for Celebrex, the new arthritis drug whose
early prescription results have soared at a near-record pace since being
introduced less than four weeks ago. Only the impotence drug Viagra, made by
Pfizer Inc., has had a faster start.
Monsanto's pharmaceutical subsidiary, G.D. Searle & Co., stopped work on
the cancer drugs about six week ago. Despite this setback, officials said several
other experimental cancer drugs continue to present encouraging results.
Searle pulled the plug on Daniplestim, which stimulates replacement of blood
cells destroyed by cancer treatments, "because the Phase III results just weren't
strong enough," said Philip Needleman, co-president of Searle and Monsanto's
chief scientist. "It was a straight data decision."
Phase III is the final series of tests of an experimental drug on humans, checking
a drug's safety and efficacy. According to its 1997 annual report, Monsanto
had been expecting to market Daniplestim this year.
Searle also halted research on Promegapoietin, which was designed to enhance
recovery of blood platelets after cancer patients have undergone
chemotherapy. Healthy blood platelets improve clotting and prevent bleeding.
Needleman said Searle stopped work in the early part of Phase II tests
because patients developed a resistance to the drug. Searle had hoped to
launch the drug in 2001.
Needleman added that Searle has begun the third phase of clinical tests on
another cancer drug, Leridistim, which Monsanto also calls a "potential
blockbuster." Leridistim is designed to prevent infections in cancer patients who
have undergone chemotherapy. Searle is hoping for FDA approval next year.
Searle also is concluding Phase III experiments on whether Celebrex can
prevent certain types of colon cancer. Early tests show that the drug prevents
the growth of intestinal polyps that can become cancerous. If Phase III results
are good, Searle could file an application with the Food and Drug
Administration this spring, Needleman said.
Copyright (c) 1999, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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