Roche Diabetes Drug Trials End – An experimental drug which was to be used for diabetes sufferers has been put on the back burner by pharmaceutical company Roche following so adverse side affects by those who were using the drug.
The drug was in late clinical trials, and also had a possible $2bn a year profit potential, so this is a blow for the company. Despite this setback, Roche does not plan to stop plans to stop experimenting with the drug, but they plan to reformulate it.
The adverse sides affects include hypersensitivity and gastrointestinal intolerability from prolonged use, which caused many patients to discontinue using the drug. The trial ran for 52 weeks.
A Leerink Swann analyst, Joshua Schimmer, said in a research note that if late-stage dosing had been suspended, “we believe that this is the final blow for what was perceived as a compound in trouble after the disappointing data on hypersensitivity and nausea/vomiting presented at the American Diabetes Association this year.”