BRIEF—AbbVie cuts its losses on Rova-T

US drugmaker AbbVie has admitted defeat with Rova-T (rovalpituzumab tesirine) – a drug that it acquired in its $5.8 billion takeover of Stemcentrx in 2016.

As AbbVie announced the failure of Rova-T to show any survival benefit in the Phase III MERU trial as a first-line maintenance therapy for advanced small-cell lung cancer on Thursday, the Chicago-based company brought to an end the antibody’s entire development program.

MERU marked the third trial in which Rova-T had failed to have the impact that was hoped for in small cell lung cancer.

AbbVie says that it will now move forward with prioritizing other development programs within its oncology pipeline.