Centocor says it will try to run a smarter trial

Centocor Inc. isn't ready to throw in the towel on Centoxin and plans to design a new, smaller trial of the HA-1A antibody with more stringent enrollment criteria.

To the surprise of no one, CNTO last week terminated its latest Phase III trial of Centoxin, saying the trial was flawed because it failed to identify patients who could benefit. The enrollment criterion was patients in shock. Spokesman Richard Koenig said CNTO plans to design a new trial that will better identify patients likely to benefit. CNTO will evaluate the use of either clinical symptoms such as organ failure or diagnostic results such as a test used in Europe to measure levels of endotoxin in the blood...