On Thursday, Pfizer Inc. declared that two Phase III studies of its advanced breast cancer drug, Sutent was not successful in meeting its principal goals.

The drug giant also said that it has ceased a further study of the drug candidate figitumumab in patients with last stage lung cancer, owing to failure in experiments.

It is certainly bad news for Pfizer since it is already facing possible patent expiration for best selling drugs, including top-seller cholesterol treatment, Lipitor next year. It is inclined to bring new products to the market in an endeavor to boost revenue.

Dr. Mace Rothenberg, Senior Vice President of Clinical Development and Medical Affairs at Pfizer's oncology business unit, said, "This outcome is disappointing to us and to patients with non-small cell lung cancer".

Pfizer said that it was "disappointed" with its results for Sutent, but stated that it was dedicated to the development program for the drug in other Phase III tests. At present, Sutent is approved to treat kidney cancer and a kind of gastrointestinal cancer.

The company also added it would continue to study figitumumab in clinical experiments for the possible treatment of prostate, breast and lung cancers.