AstraZeneca PLC said its drug Fasenra failed to meet the main goal of a late-stage trial aimed at treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, marking another recent setback for the drugmaker's development pipeline.
The study did not show a statistically significant reduction in the rate of moderate or severe flare-ups of the lung condition compared to a placebo, according to the company, though it did show a numerical improvement.
"COPD, which remains a leading cause of death worldwide, is a complex, heterogeneous disease and we continue to advance other promising approaches in our pipeline to address the unmet needs of patients," said Sharon Barr, Executive Vice President, BioPharmaceuticals R&D.
The company said the safety and tolerability profile for Fasenra in the trial was consistent with the known profile of the medicine.
Fasenra is already approved in more than 80 countries as a treatment for severe eosinophilic asthma and is also approved for other inflammatory conditions.
AstraZeneca said it will analyse the full data from the trial and share the results with the scientific community in the future.
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