Bayer stops Nexavar lung cancer trial

Nexavar was a no-go in at least one lung cancer test. Bayer and Onyx Pharmaceuticals said they halted a phase III trial testing the kidney cancer med against non-small cell lung cancer. Independent monitors decided that the study was unlikely to meet its primary goal of showing that Nexavar improved overall survival, the companies said. In fact, a subgroup of patients with squamous cell lung tumors saw a higher rate of mortality on Nexavar with two types of chemo than those who took chemo alone.

The companies say they're analyzing data to see what impact they might have on other ongoing trials of the drug in lung cancer patients. Those trials include one phase III study and two phase II trials.

• check out the release from Bayer
• see the story in Forbes

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