Last gasp for Auriculin

After giving its Auriculin atrial natriuretic peptide another college try - this time in a trial for oliguric acute renal failure - Scios Inc. (SCIO, Mountain View, Calif.) and partner Genentech Inc. (GNE, South San Francisco, Calif.) have suspended development of the compound indefinitely and SCIO will shift its focus to other candidates in clinical trials.

SCIO halted its 250-patient Phase III trial of Auriculin after an independent review of interim data determined that the remainder of the trial was unlikely to yield statistically significant results for the primary end point of 21-day, dialysis-free survival...