SciClone reevaluates clinical strategy

SciClone Pharmaceuticals Inc. is rethinking its clinical priorities in the wake of the failure of a Phase III study of its Zadaxin thymosin alpha-1 to show statistical significance in treating chronic hepatitis B.

SCLN (San Mateo, Calif.) published an abstract of Phase III data to be presented at a meeting in May, showing that 12 of 49 patients treated with Zadaxin had a sustained elimination of the viral DNA of hepatitis B, and loss of E-antigen during the one-year study or during post-study follow-up. In the control group of 48 patients, six showed remission. The difference in the two treatment groups did not achieve statistical significance...