July 17 (Reuters) – GSK will halt development of its experimental drug to treat refractory chronic cough after the therapy failed a late-stage study and missed some key goals across dosages, sending the drugmaker’s shares down as much as 4.5% on Friday.
Camlipixant’s 50 mg dose met its main goal to reduce 24-hour cough frequency compared to a placebo in 12 weeks when used twice daily, but failed to reach statistical significance in the same goal at week 24 in another trial, GSK said.
The results are a setback for new CEO Luke Miels, as the British company speeds up development of new medicines and targets new assets to strengthen its late-stage pipeline and manage losses from patent expiries expected from 2028 onwards.
LIMITED EFFICACY ‘UNLIKELY TO TRANSFORM PATIENT CARE’
The drug’s lower 25 mg dose also did not reach statistical significance in either study. Neither dosage met the secondary endpoints of the trial.
“Based on the aggregate data, the limited efficacy demonstrated is unlikely to transform patient care. GSK has decided not to progress further development of camlipixant in RCC,” GSK said in a statement.
However, the company plans to continue evaluating camlipixant as a potential treatment for irritable bowel syndrome.
Refractory chronic cough can cause patients to cough more than 900 times a day. Some 10 million patients globally suffer from it for more than a year.
GSK shares were down 3.2% at 1,894 pence by 0907 GMT.
(Reporting by Prerna Bedi in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Jan Harvey)
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