GSK drops Phase III program for otilimab

Markets seemed unfazed, as GSK’s (LSE: AZN) shares barely moved on the news yesterday that it was discontinuing a development program for otilimab, as a result of mediocre performance of the drug in rheumatoid arthritis.

The UK pharma major yesterday provided an update on the ContRAst Phase III program for otilimab, an investigational monoclonal antibody targeting granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), in the potential treatment of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The ContRAst phase IIl programme enrolled a broad range of difficult-to-treat patients who had an inadequate response to or could not tolerate available treatments.

GSK assumed exclusive worldwide responsibility of otilimab from Germany’s MorphoSys (FSE: MOR) in 2013 for all development and commercialisation activities in all therapeutic fields. And, as recently as last year, GSK touted otilimab as a potential blockbuster that formed part of a late-stage pipeline with potential peak sales in excess of £20 billion ($23 billion).