Arbutus Biopharma Corporation (ABUS)

[Ubertino]

Researchers Put Brakes on Study of Tekmira Ebola Drug in West Africa

Waning incidence of virus, questions about treatments’ effectiveness lead companies to ease back on development

By PETER LOFTUS
June 19, 2015 12:53 p.m. ET

Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp.’s development of a treatment for the Ebola virus has suffered a blow, as researchers have halted enrollment in a clinical trial in Sierra Leone, after finding the drug wasn’t helping infected patients.

Peter Horby, a professor with the University of Oxford, who led the study, said in an emailed message: “The drug has not demonstrated an overall therapeutic benefit. But we need time to look at all the data to interpret that in the context of the patient mix and other variables.” Final conclusions on efficacy and tolerability must await full analysis, he said.

Outside groups conducted the study of Tekmira’s drug, which the company provided.

Tekmira on Friday said “that continuing enrollment wasn't likely to demonstrate an overall therapeutic benefit.” The company said the study had reached a “predefined statistical endpoint and enrollment has been closed.”

Tekmira didn’t disclose how many patients had been enrolled, the target enrollment or details about how patients fared on the drug, dubbed “TKM-Ebola-Guinea.” A spokesman said that if the trial had run to completion, the company would have expected results in the second half of this year.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/researchers-put-brakes-on-study-of-tekmira-ebola-drug-in-west-africa-1434732833