BOSTON (Reuters) - Pharmion Corp said on Sunday that detailed analysis of a late-stage clinical trial of its drug to treat a group of blood disorders known as myelodysplastic syndromes confirmed it increased survival and improved the quality of life.
Data presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology confirmed that patients who were treated with Pharmion's drug Vidaza had a median survival advantage of 9.4 months compared with those treated with conventional therapy.
The company, which recently agreed to be acquired by Celgene Corp for nearly $3 billion, said detailed analysis showed the survival advantage applied no matter which of three conventional regimens were used in the control arm.
In addition, the data showed that 45 percent of patients who were dependent on blood transfusions prior to taking Vidaza, were able to become independent of transfusions, compared with 11 percent of patients taking conventional therapy.
And it showed that the median time for the disease to progress to leukemia during the treatment period was 26 months for patients taking Vidaza, compared to 12 months for patients on standard therapy.
Vidaza competes with MGI Pharma Inc's Dacogen in the United States. Both drugs, given intravenously, are known as "demethylation" agents that help the body's tumor suppressor genes do their work. Survival data for Dacogen is expected next year.
MGI pays royalties on net sales of Dacogen to SuperGen Inc.
MDS is estimated to affect 40,000 to 50,000 patients in the United States and 75,000 to 85,000 in Europe.
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