AstraZeneca's Iressa Failure Could Be Catching

AstraZeneca(AZN Quote) said Monday that its experimental cancer drug, Iressa, when given with standard chemotherapy, failed to improve the survival rate of lung cancer patients in two large, late-stage clinical trials.

Iressa is a one of a new class of targeted cancer drugs and is currently under review by the Food and Drug Administration for use by itself in patients with advanced lung cancer. But the poor results released Monday for Iressa used in combination with other cancer-fighting drugs -- first reported by TheStreet.com in May -- raise doubts about the drug's efficacy and chances for FDA approval by the end of the year. ...