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What: Shares of biotechnology company Spectrum Pharmaceuticals
So what: Spectrum's experimental drug apaziquone, which is aimed at treating the most common form of bladder cancer, failed to show statistical significance in late-stage clinical trials versus the placebo. The drug was developed in partnership with Allergan
Now what: Allos' lead drug, Folotyn, and Spectrum's Zevalin are both prescribed by hematologist-oncologists, but they attack different types of blood cancer. With both drugs under the same roof, Spectrum expects to save $40 million-$50 million per year, as the sales force pitches the non-competing treatments to the same doctors.
Those savings are nothing to sneeze at, but neither is today's negative news on apaziquone. For now I'm going to call today a wash and put Spectrum on my watchlist for further research.
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