This morning my inbox brought me an astonishing press release from Pfizer:

"Pfizer Inc today announced the discontinuation of one of its Phase 3
studies based on statistical assessment for futility: the SUN 1107 Phase
3 study of Sutent® (sunitinib malate) in advanced breast
cancer. SUN 1107 evaluated single-agent sunitinib versus single-agent
capecitabine for the treatment of a broad range of patients with
advanced breast cancer after failure of standard treatment. An
independent Data Monitoring Committee (DMC) found that even if the trial
had been allowed to continue, treatment with single-agent sunitinib
would be unable to demonstrate a statistically significant improvement
in the primary endpoint of progression-free survival (PFS) compared to
single-agent capecitabine in the study population. Data from this trial
are currently being analyzed."

Wow.  Pfizer has already ended development of five late-stage drugs
during the past six months for diseases including anxiety, obesity
and pancreatic cancer.  At this rate, the Wy-Pfi is getting much more attractive by the day as the once promising Pfizer pipeline plops.  They are still pursuing Sutent in other indications, but this news ranks as a big disappointment.

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