Novartis' dovitinib misses in Phase III RCC trial

Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS; SIX:NOVN) disclosed in its 2Q13 earnings that dovitinib lactate ( TKI258) missed the primary endpoint of improving progression-free survival (PFS) vs. Nexavar sorafenib from Bayer AG (Xetra:BAYN) and Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ONXX) in a Phase III trial to treat metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Novartis could not be reached for details. The open-label, international trial enrolled about 564 patients with metastatic RCC after failure of prior anti-angiogenic therapies. Dovitinib, an oral multitargeted receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), is in Phase II testing to treat endometrial cancer, scirrhous gastric carcinoma, advanced breast cancer, relapsed multiple myeloma (MM) and urothelial cancer. ...