Amgen and Takeda Pharmaceutical said their experimental drug, motesanib, had failed to improve overall survival in a late-stage study of patients with advanced lung cancer.

The Phase 3 trial of 1,090 patients with advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer did not meet its main goal, the companies said today.

In the study, all patients received two older cancer drugs, paclitaxel or carboplatin, and either motesanib or a placebo.

Side effects of a serious nature were more frequently reported in patients taking motesanib, the companies said.

The companies released summary, or "top-line", results of the study and said more details would be presented at a future medical conference.

"We are disappointed with the results from this trial, but look forward to further analysis of the data which may ultimately help inform future research in this area," Roger Perlmutter, Amgen's executive vice president of research and development, said in a statement.

The trial, known as MONET1, had been temporarily suspended in November 2008 after higher mortality rates were seen. It was cleared to resume in February 2009, but just for patients with the non-squamous cell form of the disease.

Sales of motesanib have been expected to reach abut $912 million by 2017, according to BioMedTracker.

Reuters