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Pfizer's sickle cell drug fails late-stage trial
Aug 15 (Reuters) - Pfizer's (PFE.N), opens new tab experimental drug to treat sickle cell anemia failed to meet the main goal in a late stage trial, the drugmaker said on Friday.
Results showed no significant difference between the number of vaso-occlusive crises — painful events common in sickle cell disease — among people who took the drug, named inclacumab, and those who took placebo.
Pfizer said it is disappointed by the results but remains committed to supporting the sickle cell community.
Inclacumab was generally well tolerated in the trial that included patients 16 years of age and older, the company said. The most common side effects reported were anemia, joint pain, back pain, headache, malaria, sickle cell crisis and upper respiratory tract infection, it said.
The disease is an inherited blood disorder in which red blood cells become sickle- or crescent-shaped and can cause strokes, organ damage and death.
