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ARTICLE | Clinical News

Circassia abandoning allergy field after Phase IIb miss

April 18, 2017 8:35 PM UTC

Circassia Pharmaceuticals plc (LSE:CIR) said it will no longer develop allergy therapeutics following the failure of dust mite program HDM-SPIRE in a Phase IIb trial. The company plans to focus on its respiratory business, including its new collaboration with AstraZeneca plc (LSE:AZN; NYSE:AZN) for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease drugs Tudorza Pressair aclidinium bromide and Duaklir Pressair aclidinium bromide/formoterol fumarate.

The trial’s primary endpoint evaluated patients’ combined scores for rhinoconjunctivitis symptoms and rescue medication use for three HDM-SPIRE dose regimens. Circassia said that while its therapy “greatly reduced” allergy symptoms and rescue medication use, none of the regimens significantly reduced mean combined score from baseline vs. placebo (34.9%, 40.9% and 44.3% vs. 39.1%, p=0.26, p=0.65 and p=0.14, respectively)...