Cancer drugs RIPed in 2010

Four of the top ten Phase III failures of 2010 that were listed at FierceBiotech on Oct 21st are cancer drugs, and that's a big number!
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ASA404 (vadimezan, formerly known as AS1404, DMXAA; Antisoma/Novartis) failed in a non-small cell lung cancer trial, ATTRACT-2.   It is a small molecule Vascular Disrupting Agent (VDA) targeting established blood vessels in tumor. (read here and here) 

NOV-002 (Novelos Therapeutics) also failed a non-small cell lung cancer trial.  It is a proprietary formulation of oxidized glutathione, or “GSSG” in a 1000:1 ratio of GSSG with cisplatin. 

Zibotentan (ZD4054, AstraZeneca) failed in prostate cancer.  It is endothelin pathway blocker

Recentin (cediranib, AstraZeneca) for colon cancer also failed in a head-to-head study with Avastin.  Recentin is a VEGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor.

NV1FGF (Sanofi-Aventis and Vical), a proangiogenic agent, also did not deliver in TAMARIS trial.  It did not prove superior to placebo in preventing death and disease from critical limb ischemia.  It is a pCOR plasmid-based angiogenic gene therapy delivering FGF1 (read more).

Four of the five drugs listed above were targeting angiogenic signaling.  Cancer remains a tough nut to crack but angiogenic pathways remain the bull's eye.  As is often the case, these drugs may reappear in another trial in 2011.