Bristol ends cancer drug deal with Pierre Fabre

Last Updated: 2007-11-23 9:00:15 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bristol-Myers Squibb Co has ended its license agreement with Pierre Fabre Medicament over an experimental bladder cancer drug and returned rights to the French company, the companies said on Friday.

The decision on the drug, vinflunine, came after a review of the clinical development program and the decision not to file an application for the drug for bladder cancer in the United States, the companies said.

Bristol in 2004 licensed rights to vinflunine, a chemotherapy under study for treating advanced bladder cancer and other tumor types.

Several analysts wrote off vinflunine last month when Bristol said it no longer expected to ask U.S. regulators to approve the drug for bladder cancer as a result of feedback from the Food and Drug Administration.

Pierre Fabre said it intends to continue discussions with European regulatory authorities and plans to seek approval for the drug in bladder cancer in the first quarter of 2008.

The private French group is considering its development options for the drug, including pursuing it for a number of cancers.

Bristol had been hoping vinflunine would help cement its status as a leader in the oncology field.

The drugmaker won U.S. approval last month for Ixempra, a chemotherapy drug for women with advanced breast cancer that does not respond to other therapies.

(Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf, editing by Mark Porter)