Pfizer stops two more trials of pain drug tanezumab

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) has been forced to halt two more trials of tanezumab, an experimental biologic for pain. The FDA requested that Pfizer suspend two late-stage trials of the drug in patients with chronic low back pain and painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy. The move comes after the drug giant suspended another trial of the biologic in June. In that study, patients taking the therapy for osteoarthritis saw their condition worsen to the point they required joint...

Safety concerns force Pfizer to suspend pain trials

Pfizer can add one more promising experimental drug that has been hobbled by unexpected safety issues. The pharma giant says it has been forced to suspend an ambitious slate of trials of its experimental pain drug tanezumab after patients taking the therapy for osteoarthritis saw their condition worsen to the point they required joint replacement surgery. Pfizer, which only days ago touted "extraordinary" late-stage data for the drug, says that at the request of the FDA its researchers have...

Phase III osteoarthritis pain trial is a winner for Pfizer

Pfizer ran the table in a late-stage study of tanezumab, a protein inhibitor that the pharma giant is touting as a leading contender to go on to become the world's first approved biologic for pain. The pharma giant recruited 690 patients for the trial who suffered from chronic knee pain from osteoarthritis but were either unable to take an NSAID pain therapy or its Cox-2 inhibitor Celebrex or didn't benefit sufficiently from the meds. Patients in all three dose groups--2.5 mg, 5 mg and 10...