Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc (ARIA.O) said interim data from an early-stage trial of its experimental cancer drug showed promise in treating patients with advanced blood cancers who are resistant to other therapies.
Initial data presented by Ariad at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology showed the drug, AP24534, was well-tolerated and had beneficial anti-tumor activity.
The trial is studying patients who failed prior inhibitor therapy for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), which is characterized by an excessive and unregulated production of white blood cells by the bone marrow due to a genetic abnormality.
"We are in the process of planning with the regulators and investigators to structure a single-armed mid-stage trial ... and hope the trial will be up and running by the middle of 2010," Frank Haluska, vice president of clinical affairs at Ariad told Reuters.
Ariad is also in the process of early discussion with its partners to form a marketing collaboration for the drug, Haluska added.
It doesn't say that they are in discussions with the regulators for a single armed pivotal trial.
