Drug companies lose hundreds of millions of dollars when large-scale human clinical trials fail. Helen Pearson examines for Nature (30.11.2006) whether alternative procedures could help avoid such disappointments. She describes the case where a promising stroke drug of pharma firm AstraZeneca failed a phase III clinical trial.
On average, "the failed phase III trial shouldn't have come as too much of a surprise. More than 40 percent of drugs that enter phase III trials - the final and most extensive stage of clinical testing - are abandoned because they prove ineffective or unsafe," writes Pearson. Phase III trials are the costliest part of drug development. They involve lots of patients; in this case with two phase III trials 4900 people.
On average, "the failed phase III trial shouldn't have come as too much of a surprise. More than 40 percent of drugs that enter phase III trials - the final and most extensive stage of clinical testing - are abandoned because they prove ineffective or unsafe," writes Pearson. Phase III trials are the costliest part of drug development. They involve lots of patients; in this case with two phase III trials 4900 people.