Drug manufacturer Strativa Pharmaceuticals (the proprietary products division of Par Pharmaceutical Companies, Inc.) recently announced that preliminary data from a clinical trial of a drug developed for the treatment of mesothelioma, ONCONASE (ranpirnase), showed mixed results. Strativa is working on the drug with its development partner, Alfacell Corporation. The clinical trial studied survival rates of patients treated with both ONCONASE and doxorubicin as compared to patients who were treated with doxorubicin alone. But the data did not show a statistically significant improvement for patients receiving ONCONASE plus doxorubicin. In contrast, however, the data did show statistically significant results in mesothelioma patients who failed a prior chemotherapy regimen before entering the ONCONASE clinical trial. Based on the preliminary results, Alfacell and Strativa remain optimistic for the drug’s success and the partners plan to continue to work toward submission of the drug for approval by the FDA.
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