BioCentury
ARTICLE | Clinical News

Idera's IMO-2055 misses SCCHN endpoint

May 4, 2012 12:39 AM UTC

Idera Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:IDRA) said once-weekly subcutaneous IMO-2055 plus Erbitux cetuximab missed the primary endpoint of median progression-free survival (PFS) vs. Erbitux alone in a Phase II trial to treat recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). Specifically, median PFS as determined by the investigator's assessment was 2.9 months in both arms. The open-label, international trial enrolled 106 patients with recurrent or metastatic SCCHN who were naive to Erbitux.

Last year, Merck KGaA (Xetra:MRK) returned rights to IMO-2055. Merck decided it would not conduct further development of the product after seeing an increased incidence of neutropenia and electrolyte imbalances in a Phase Ib trial to treat SCCHN. Merck did agree to complete the Phase II trial for SCCHN. The product is a second-generation synthetic immune modulatory oligonucleotide (IMO) agonist of toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9). ...