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[timhyma]

Boy, glad I missed this one. Responding to the profile I did this weekend
-1.97 (-65.67%) Prev Cls 3
AVANT Immunotherapeutics heart drug trial fails

Drug developer AVANT Immunotherapeutics (NasdaqNM:AVAN - news) said on Wednesday that its experimental heart drug failed to prove effective in clinical trials, an announcement that sliced its stock price in half.

The company said a clinical trial of 564 patients showed the drug to have no clinically important differences from placebo in the number of patients who experienced mycardial infarction, death, required prolonged intubation or prolonged intra-arterial balloon pump therapy.

The mid-stage, or Phase II, trial tested patients undergoing high risk cardiac surgery.

AVANT said it did not intend to devote any further resources to developing the treatment.

The company's shares were down $1.53, or 51 percent, to $1.47 in midday trading on Nasdaq.