Astellas Pharma and Aveo Oncology have finally pulled the plug on tivozanib after discontinuing a Phase II colorectal cancer trial.
The news comes as little surprise seeing as how tivozanib was rejected by the US Food and Drug Administration in June last year for kidney cancer. Also at the end of last month, Astellas and Aveo discontinued a Phase II trial of the tyrosine kinase inhibitor as a treatment for triple negative breast cancer due to insufficient enrollment.
The termination of the collaboration will be effective August 11, after which the rights to tivozanib will be returned to Aveo. The latter’s chief executive Tuan Ha-Ngoc added that after the setback, “we are re-aligning our resources behind key development opportunities” and will outline its corporate strategy when it reports 2013 results on March 13.
