Dive Brief:
- After Amgen severed its brodalumab co-development partnership with AstraZeneca (AZ) in May, AZ continued the program—and the company has no plans to ditch the investigational drug, with the goal of filing for approval later this year.
- Brodalumab, an IL-17 inhibitor, has been in late-stage clinical trials since 2014 for psoriasis and other inflammatory conditions, including psoriatic arthritis and spondyloarthritis.
- According to AZ, a data review "confirms ... that the observations of suicidal ideation and behavior are unlikely to be causally related to brodalumab therapy." The company is conducting a full analysis of that data.
Dive Insight:
When Amgen chose to end the brodalumab co-development partnership, which dates back to April 2012, there was concern that AZ might also stop working on the program. As it turns out, that's not the case.
In fact, AZ seems more determined than ever to bring brodalumab to market. With strong phase III efficacy data in which brodalumab beat out Johnson & Johnson's Stelara, the future might be brighter than initially expected—especially if, as AstraZeneca claims, the brodalumab-suicide link proves to be non-causal.