Merck KGaA, Threshold drug fails in late-stage cancer trials

[December 07, 2015]  FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's Merck KGaA and development partner Threshold Pharmaceuticals said their experimental cancer drug evofosfamide failed to show the desired effects in two late stage studies.

Evofosfamide did not meet the main goal of improving overall survival in patients suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer and advanced soft tissue sarcoma, prompting the two companies to give up exploring the drug's use against the these cancer forms.

Merck said it would soon decide over the drug's future overall.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Christoph Steitz)

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