Health Highlights: Nov. 21, 2008

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Lung Cancer Drug Trial Halted

A late-stage clinical trial of the experimental lung cancer drug motesanib was halted because patients taking the drug had higher early death rates than patients taking a placebo.

The trial by U.S.-based Amgen and Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. was stopped after an independent monitoring committee noted the pattern of deaths among the study's 600 patients with non-small cell lung cancer, Bloomberg news reported.

Motesanib was designed to starve tumor cells of the blood supply they need to grow by blocking a protein called VEGF, which is involved in the growth of blood vessels that feed tumors.

The clinical trial suspension applies only to patients with the squamous non-small cell form of cancer, Bloomberg reported. Amgen said the monitoring committee didn't recommend suspension of the study for patients with the non-squamous form of the lung cancer.