Roche Halts 'Good Cholesterol' Drug

DRUG KILLED: Roche has ended all testing of experimental drug dalcetrapib, meant to raise good cholesterol, after a late-stage study showed it didn't help patients.

By Stephen Simpson:Swiss drug giant Roche (RHHBY.PK) hasn't had the best run of luck lately. Having moved past significant issues with the Avastin franchise in 2011, the company failed in its efforts to acquire Illumina (ILMN) and now investors have to digest the surprising Phase 3 failure of its cholesterol drug dalcetrapib.

Shares in Roche were boosted after the Swiss drug maker reported encouraging results from clinical trials of dalcetrapib, a drug designed to raise "good" cholesterol.

Roche announced today that it had ended development of dalcetrapib, its entry in the once-promising class of HDL-raising CETP inhibitors. A data and safety monitoring board recommended that the dal-OUTCOMES phase 3 trial be stopped due to a lack of clinically meaningful efficacy. The DSMB found no evidence of safety problems. Here is the press ...

ByTroy Bayer:A recent study by The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) revealed that Abbott Laboratories' (ABT) Niaspan was ineffective in reducing the likelihood of heart attacks in patients with cardiovascular disease.

GENEVA (AP) -- Swiss drug maker Roche Holding AG has ended development of a cholesterol drug that it had hoped could achieve blockbuster status....