Serendipity makes OSI a Phase II player

Although big pharma mergers may not have provided an anticipated bonanza of product spin-outs and divestitures, OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc. has become the beneficiary of such an opportunity, regaining full rights to a small molecule cancer compound identified under its 1986 partnership with Pfizer Inc.

To complete its acquisition of Warner-Lambert Co., PFE last week granted OSIP a royalty-free license to develop and commercialize CP-358,774 (OSI-774), a small molecule epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor that is in Phase II testing to treat ovarian, head and neck and non-small cell lung cancers...