Celgene Corporation has announced that it is halting a late-stage clinical study it was conducting into the potential efficacy of Revlimid against prostate cancer.
The study recruited prostate cancer patients whose disease did not respond to hormone therapy. All patients in the study received Taxotere and prednisone; the two arms of the study involved half the patients being given Revlimid and the other half, a placebo.
According to the company, early analysis of the study data demonstrated that Revlimid was not providing a survival benefit compared to patients given a placebo.
Revlimid (lenalidomide), once known as CC-5013, is a derivative of thalidomide which became available in 2004. Celgene has been given approval to market the drug as a treatment for multiple myeloma as well as for a type of MDS or myelodysplastic syndrome.
Despite this setback, Celgene will continue to test the drug against other cancers, including some non-Hodgkin's lymphomas and chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
