French pharma giant Sanofi said that international Phase 3 clinical tests of its Kevzara drug for serious Covid-19 cases had proved inconclusive and it was halting the trial.
The Phase 3 test - normally the last before official approval for use - "did not meet the primary or secondary evaluation criteria compared with a placebo, and in both cases, compared with established hospital care," it said in a statement.
Sanofi said neither it nor its American partner in developing the drug, Regeneron, "envisage further clinical tests of Kevzara for the treatment of Covid-19."
Although Kevzara "did not give us the results we were hoping for, we are proud of the work done by our team," Sanofi global research head John Reed said in the statement.
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic late last year in China, it has claimed more than 800,000 lives and caused huge economic damage, sparking a global race to find a vaccine and effective treatments.
Sanofi is one of many companies developing a vaccine but scientists are cautious in saying that at best, one may only be available by the end of this year for initial use.
AstraZeneca, Oxford Biomedica expand Covid-19 vaccine supply tie-up
AstraZeneca has expanded its previous agreement with Oxford Biomedica to mass-produce the British drugmaker's Covid-19 vaccine candidate, as it looks to scale-up supply ahead of a possible fast-track approval from the US.
Gene and cell therapy firm Oxford Biomedica said AstraZeneca would give it $15m upfront to reserve manufacturing capacity at its plant and that it could get an additional $35m plus other costs until the end of 2021 under the new 18-month deal.
AstraZeneca's vaccine hopeful for the novel coronavirus, AZD1222, already among the leading candidates in the global race for a successful vaccine, moved to late stage trials in the US this week as the company targets 3 billion doses of the vaccine.
Oxford Biomedica was among AstraZeneca's initial partners when they teamed up in May to produce the vaccine and today's deal could be further expanded by another year-and-a-half into 2022 and 2023, Oxford said.
