Ipsen announces recruitment completion for prostate cancer drug trial

Ipsen has announced that partner Active Biotech has completed patient enrolment for a phase III clinical trial of the prostate cancer therapy tasquinimod.

More than 1,200 subjects have been recruited for the study, which aims to demonstrate the progression-free survival benefits of the drug against metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Following this milestone, Ipsen will pay Active Biotech a fee of ten million euros (8.05 million pounds) under the terms of their ongoing partnership.

This comes after the drug demonstrated its efficacy in a phase II clinical trial which took place in 2009.

Marc de Garidel, chairman and chief executive officer of Ipsen, said: "The on-schedule recruitment of tasquinimod phase III clinical trial highlights Active Biotech's commitment and the growing interest from the medical community for an innovative and differentiated mode of action."

The company also recently confirmed plans to initiate a further phase II proof-of-concept trial to assess tasquinimod across several new cancer indications.