Monday, January 13, 2014

GSK hands back failed muscular dystrophy drug to Prosensa

LONDON Mon Jan 13, 2014 8:32am EST

The signage for the GlaxoSmithKline building is pictured in Hounslow, west London June 18, 2013. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor

The signage for the GlaxoSmithKline building is pictured in Hounslow, west London June 18, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Luke MacGregor

LONDON (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline has handed back rights to an experimental drug for Duchenne muscular dystrophy to Dutch biotech firm Prosensa after it failed last year in a critical clinical trial.

Britain's biggest drugmaker said on Monday that Prosensa would now have full and unencumbered rights to drisapersen. The move marks the termination of a 2009 collaboration agreement between the two firms.

Hopes for the drug slumped last September when it did not show a statistically significant improvement in the distance that patients could walk in six minutes compared with a placebo in a final-stage Phase III test run by GSK.

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Greg Mahlich)

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