Nerve drug fails in Phase II

A drug intended to reduce peripheral nerve damage in cancer patient has failed in a clinical trial.

Amrad Corporation today announced the Phase II trial of emfilermin had shown clearly that the neuropathy drug did not work.

Managing director Dr Sandra Webb said the company had decided to cease further development of emfilermin for this therapeutic indication.

But she remained hopeful the compound could still be of benefit for other conditions. "Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy is just one possible therapeutic indication for emfilermin," Webb said.

"Amrad has also partnered with Serono, one of the world's largest biotechnology companies, to develop emfilermin as a drug to improve success rates of IVF treatment.

She said the Serono project had recently completed Phase I clinical trials and was expected to progress to Phase II proof of concept studies during 2002.

Amrad had hoped emfilermin, a cytokine known as LIF (Leukemia Inhibitory Factor) would improve or even prevent the nerve damage caused by some chemotherapy treatments.

According to company information, the compound is normally released by the body in response to trauma to limit cellular damage by promoting cell survival and regeneration.

Amrad had estimated the potential market size for drugs to treat peripheral neuropathies was about $US1 billion ($1.89 million).

But Webb assured investors the negative trial result was not a major set back for the company.

"Amrad has a great portfolio of compounds in key therapeutic areas like hepatitis B, chronic pain, cardiovascular disease, stroke, reproductive health, rheumatoid arthritis and asthma," she said.

"The company has deliberately adopted this portfolio approach to drug discovery and development to guard against the scenario of a product falling over in the Phase I or Phase II stage of development.

"We are not a one-throw-of-the-dice biotech company."

In February, Amrad announced the successful completed a safety and tolerability trial of AM336 for the relief of chronic severe pain, while proof of concept results of its AM356 treatment for chronic hepatitis B were expected in at the end of the year.

At the time of writing, Amrad shares had fallen more than 20 per cent, from $1.19 to 95 cents, on the back of the news.