AstraZeneca drug fails in prostate cancer trial

AstraZeneca's experimental prostate cancer pill zibotentan failed to improve survival in a late-stage clinical trial, dealing a fresh blow to the company's oncology pipeline. As a result, AstraZeneca plans no regulatory submissions for zibotentan at this time, the drugmaker said on Monday.

The failure of zibotentan to improve overall survival in the Phase III study follows similarly unsuccessful trials for two other AstraZeneca pills, Recentin in colon cancer earlier this year and vandetanib in lung cancer in 2009. Vandetanib has since gone on to show benefits in thyroid cancer, a smaller potential market. Zibotentan, a once-daily tablet, is being studied in more than 3,000 men with prostate cancer in a programme of clinical trials. Two other studies looking at the medicine in different seetings are still ongoing.