Onyx will seek early approval on blockbuster cancer candidate

The multiple myeloma therapy carfilzomib registered a response in about one of four drug-resistant patients in a mid-stage trial, reports Onyx Pharmaceuticals, which the biotech believes is solid enough data to win an accelerated approval for a therapy with clear blockbuster potential. Onyx CEO Anthony Coles told reporters that a regulatory filing will be made before the end of this year. The Phase IIb data on the proteasome inhibitor is a big win for Onyx, which scooped up the therapy when it...

Ignoring lawsuit, Bayer takes regorafenib into PhIII cancer study

Germany's Bayer Schering Pharma is marching ahead into a Phase III study of regorafenib for colorectal cancer, gambling that it can successfully fend off a legal attack from its U.S. partner Onyx. Regorafenib (BAY 73-4506) is closely related to the blockbuster therapy Nexavar, which is controlled by Onyx and Bayer. Onyx filed suit against Bayer a year ago, saying that the new cancer drug can be distinguished from Nexavar by only a single atom. As Reuters points out, both are multikinase...