Early closing of apixaban trial on good results in AF sees Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb shares rise

US drug majors Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb saw their share prices rise on Friday after announcing that they have agreed to stop the Phase III AVERROES clinical trial of apixaban in patients with atrial fibrillation.

The study will be stopped early because a predefined interim analysis by the independent Data Monitoring Committee (DMC) revealed clear evidence of a clinically important reduction in stroke and systemic embolism in patients with atrial fibrillation considered intolerant of or unsuitable for vitamin K antagonist therapy who received apixaban as compared to aspirin. This interim analysis also demonstrated an acceptable safety profile for apixaban compared to aspirin, the companies noted.

Pfizer rose 3.3% and B-MS gained 2% on the news. Signs of interest are likely welcome to investors in the pharmaceutical sector which, year-to-day, is down some 11%, versus the more modest falloff of 3.8% seen in the S&P 500, noted the Wall Street Journal. Earlier this year, B-MS indicated that it hoped to launch the drug in 2012.