Aveo and Biodesix have decided to stop all trials of their hepatocyte growth factor inhibitory antibody ficlatuzumab for acute myeloid leukemia (AML), citing the growing COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.
The companies have halted the follow-up phase II CyFi-2 study, which was comparing high-dose cytarabine with or without ficlatuzumab with high-dose cytarabine alone in patients with relapsed or refractory AML.
“This decision is being taken due to the urgent shift among clinical sites toward efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, which has impacted the feasibility of completing the study within the shelf-life of the current ficlatuzumab clinical trial supply. The study has not yet begun patient enrollment,” Aveo said in a brief statement.
Sources: Aveo press release, March 27, 2020; Fierce Biotech, March 30, 2020.
