MGI Pharma Plunges After Halting Study

The pharmaceutical company says its pancreatic cancer treatment doesn't meet objectives.

Author:: Michael Dunn
Publish date:: Apr 17, 2002 10:29 AM EDT

MGI Pharma

(MOGN)

halted its Phase 3 clinical trial of its anticancer drug irofulven because tests showed the drug would not achieve MGI's objectives.

The pharmaceutical company said that preliminary analysis by a monitoring board showed that the drug it is being compared with, 5-flurouracil, itself showed a high survival benefit, making it statistically impossible for MGI's drug to prove superior. The drugs are designed to treat gemcitabine-refractory pancreatic cancer patients.

The company is abandoning the study of irofluven as a gemcitabine-refractory pancreatic cancer treatment, but it will continue to study its use as monotherapy as well as in combination therapy for tumor types.

Shares of MGI were plunging on the news, recently down 44.3% to $8.21 after closing at $14.75 on Tuesday.