Dec 15 2009
Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq:GILD) today announced that DAR-312
(DORADO-AC), a Phase III clinical trial evaluating darusentan, the
company’s endothelin receptor antagonist (ERA) for the treatment of
resistant hypertension, did not achieve its co-primary efficacy
endpoints of change from baseline to week 14 in trough sitting systolic
blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) compared to
placebo.
DAR-312 is an international Phase III double-blind, placebo- and
active-controlled, parallel group trial, in which 849 patients were
randomized to receive darusentan (titrated to the optimal dose of 50,
100 or 300 mg once daily), an active comparator (guanfacine 1 mg once
daily) or placebo. The study was 95 percent powered to detect an 8 mm Hg
improvement in SBP and DBP between the darusentan and placebo groups.
Reductions in mean trough sitting SBP and DBP from baseline were not
statistically significantly different between darusentan and placebo.
Darusentan did demonstrate superiority in sitting SBP and DBP when
compared to guanfacine at 14 weeks; additionally the study met other
secondary endpoints.
“We are disappointed that darusentan did not achieve its primary
endpoints in this study,” said Norbert Bischofberger, PhD, Gilead’s
Executive Vice President, Research and Development and Chief Scientific
Officer. “As a result, we think it would be challenging to define an
expedient path forward. We would likely be required to initiate another
Phase III study and would rather allocate our resources to other
promising research and development opportunities in our pipeline.”
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