Novelos ends development of lung cancer drug

By Mass High Tech staff

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Less than a month after reporting it had poor results from a lung cancer drug, Novelos Therapeutics Inc. has decided to end the development of the drug as an adjunct to current lung cancer chemotherapy drugs. Newton-based Novelos did say it will go forward with trials in breast cancer for the compound, NOV-002.

In late February, Novelos said that NOV-002 failed to show any benefits when added to traditional treatments involving paclitaxel and carboplatin chemotherapy. Now the company has more details, saying that primary and secondary endpoints of the trials weren’t met and using NOV-002 with the two other drugs showed no statistical or meaningful difference in recovery. They did note the compound was safe and didn’t add to the toxicity of the chemotherapy drugs.

According to Harry Palmin, president and CEO of Novelos, the company intends to rebuild its pipeline through licensing or buying clinical-stage oncology compounds. In addition, it will continue to study its oxidized glutathione-based compounds for treating hepatitis.

In November of 2009, Novelos closed a $9 million private placement of shares with existing investor, Stamford, Conn.-based Purdue Pharma LP.

Novelos trades on the Over the Counter Bulletin Board under the ticker “NVLT.” The company reported eight employees at the end of the third quarter 2009 and had a loss of $9.41 million on revenue of $70,000 for the first three quarters of 2009.

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