More trouble for OA treatments

Bad news for companies developing new treatments for osteoarthritis (OA) seemed to have little effect on the companies affected. The news came courtesy of the FDA, which stopped development of a class of compounds inhibiting the Nerve Growth Factor (NGF). Five companies were developing this class of compounds for treatment of pain associated with OA.

Pfizer (PFE) was the first to stop its drug, tanezumab, in June of 2010. At that time, it was speculated that the drug was in-fact so effective, that patients with OA forgot about their pain and started stressing their joints excessively. This lead to worsening cartilage degeneration or osteonecrosis of the femoral head. Amazingly enough, the trial was in subjects with OA of the knee, not hip.

Not much publicized was AstraZeneca’s (AZN) halting of MEDI-578 in July, right after the Pfizer announcement.

On Dec 28, the FDA placed Johnson and Johnson’s (JNJ) antibody to NGF, fulranumab, on clinical hold. That means no new patients can be recruited into the study. And Regeneron’s (REGN) REGN475/SAR164877, that was being developed jointly with Sanofi Aventis (SNY), was also placed on clinical hold.

That leaves only Abbott (ABT) in the game with ABT-110. It remains to be seen if this will become another COX2 story (with celebrex the only survivor). However, it is worth keeping in mind that the Abbott compound is also an antibody that it got last year from PanGenetics for $150 million. A hefty price to pay to play in the potential $11 billion market.