Iressa. Game over. Targeted failure of AstraZeneca

MADRID, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Continuing to give AstraZeneca's drug Iressa plus chemotherapy to lung cancer patents whose disease has worsened after previously taking the medicine on its own does not provide any benefit.

Some doctors had hoped that extending the use of Iressa in combination with chemotherapy would help to keep cancers at bay, even when tumour cells had started to develop resistance to the drug.

But a clinical study presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology annual congress on Sunday found no statistically significant improvement in the length of time patients lived without their disease getting worse.

The Phase III study, involving 265 patients, tested Iressa plus chemotherapy to chemotherapy alone. It was sponsored by AstraZeneca.

http://news.yahoo.com/no-benefit-continued-astrazenecas-iressa-065959911.html