BioCentury
ARTICLE | Product Development

Celtrix back to Square One

February 13, 1995 8:00 AM UTC

Celtrix Pharmaceuticals Inc. is going back to Square One in the ongoing game of biotechnology chutes and ladders. The Santa Clara, Calif., company dropped ophthalmic development of BetaKine TGF-beta-2 after the compound failed to show clinical benefit in a Phase II trial of patients with age-related macular degeneration.

Last October, BetaKine failed to show benefit in a three-month follow up in a Phase III trial in patients with macular holes. CTRX had hoped that 12-month follow up data would be better, but having seen a negative result in the macular degeneration trial, the company decided to discontinue all internal BetaKine ophthalmic studies. As a result, it will also discontinue a pilot study in retinal edema. A Phase I/II study planned by the National Cancer Institute to treat mucositis in chemotherapy patients will go forward, with CTRX supplying drug to the NCI...