Astra blames delays for ditching bowel disease drug treatment
Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca stops developing a treatment for Crohn’s disease
Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca stops developing a treatment for Crohn’s disease.
The FTSE 100 group said it would stop investigating whether its drug brazikumab could be used to treat inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
Crohn’s disease causes swelling in the digestive tract, which can lead to abdominal pain, fatigue, and malnutrition. Astra scrapped its program, blaming development timeline delays caused by global events and “the context of the competitive landscape.”
‘Disappointing’: FTSE 100 group said it would stop investigating whether its drug brazikumab could be used to treat inflammatory bowel disease
Despite this, shares rose 0.1 percent, or 10 pence, to 11,670 pence. Analysts from broker Shore Capital called the decision “disappointing” but also understandable.
Separately, Astra said its lynparza drug received U.S. approval for the treatment of prostate cancer after a clinical trial showed that, when combined with hormonal therapy, abiraterone or steroid prednisolone, it reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 76 percent in compared to using abiraterone alone.
The treatment is already approved in the EU and other countries. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, other than skin cancer, and mainly affects people over the age of 50.
It is estimated that 1 in 8 men in the UK will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime and 12,000 die from it each year.
Lynparza is also used to treat cancer of the ovary and fallopian tube, and cancer of the peritoneum, breast and pancreas.