Ariad Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ARIA]]), the Cambridge, MA-based developer of cancer drugs, said today it has started a mid-stage clinical trial of a breast cancer treatment designed to help patients who resist Genentech’s Herceptin. The drug, an oral pill called deforolimus, is designed to block the mTOR protein, which acts like a “master switch” for cancer cells. Ariad will now receive a $15 million milestone payment from its partner, drug giant Merck (NYSE: [[ticker:MRK]]) for starting the study. The trial, of 33 patients, should wrap up in the second half of 2009.
Author: Luke Timmerman
Luke is an award-winning journalist specializing in life sciences. He has served as national biotechnology editor for Xconomy and national biotechnology reporter for Bloomberg News. Luke got started covering life sciences at The Seattle Times, where he was the lead reporter on an investigation of doctors who leaked confidential information about clinical trials to investors. The story won the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award and several other national prizes. Luke holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and during the 2005-2006 academic year, he was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.
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