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Pfizer drug-combination antifungal trial fails

by Reuters
Friday, 30 September 2011 14:29 GMT

* Combo of drugs fails to show significant fall in death

* Pfizer shares down 0.2 pct, in line with drug sector (Adds details on drugs, stock decline)

Sept 30 (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc <PFE.N> said two of its anti-fungal drugs, when used together to treat a dangerous systemic fungal infection, failed to meet the main goal of a late-stage trial.

The company tested its treatment Vfend in combination with its other antifungal drug Eraxis in patients suffering with invasive aspergillosis, a life-threatening fungal infection that can develop in patients with compromised immune systems.

Eraxis is an injectable drug used to treat Candida and other fungal infections. It was approved five years ago after positive data from a late-stage trial that compared it with the widely used antifungal fluconazole.

Analysts have forecast Vfend's annual global sales will remain in their current ${esc.dollar}750 million range through 2015, according to Thomson Pharma. Eraxis has far smaller sales. Had the international 454-patient trial succeeded, it might have helped boost sales of both medicines.

The drugs, when used in combination, did show a lower all-cause mortality rate -- or death for any reason -- at six weeks compared with treatment with Vfend alone, Pfizer said on Friday. But the difference was not deemed statistically significant.

The safety and tolerability of the combination of Vfend and Eraxis was similar to that of Vfend by itself.

Pfizer shares were down 0.2 percent at ${esc.dollar}17.94 in Friday morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange, in line with a moderate decline for the drug sector. (Reporting by Anand Basu in New York, editing by Gerald E. McCormick and John Wallace)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.


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