Kyowa discontinues cancer candidate tivantinib

Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co. Ltd. (Tokyo:4151) said it discontinued development of cancer candidate tivantinib (ARQ 197), saying "positive results were not acquired in any studies." The company was developing the product for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), gastric cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In March, Kyowa said tivantinib missed the primary endpoint of improving progression-free survival (PFS) vs. placebo in the Japanese Phase III JET-HCC trial to treat HCC (see BioCentury, May 5).

ArQule Inc. (NASDAQ:ARQL) was co-developing tivantinib with Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd. (Tokyo:4568) on a worldwide basis outside of certain Asian countries, where ArQule licensed rights to Kyowa in 2007 (see BioCentury, Apr. 30, 2007 & Nov. 17, 2008)...