SciClone Pharmaceuticals Inc. (SCLN) has blocked a trial in the Phase II stage of a significant treatment of late-stage pancreatic cancer following a safety committee’s recommendation.
 
The move is not expected by the drug maker to affect its previous financial guidance which was raised earlier this year. The results posted for the second-quarter easily topped the Wall Street expectations.
 
Chief Executive Friedhelm Blobel said, "We will continue to evaluate future opportunities to bring new and effective treatments to these patients”.
 
Research into pancreatic cancer has suffered from chronic under-funding for years and potential treatments have suffered setbacks recently.
 
Almost every other cancer has experienced a rise in survival rates except for pancreatic cancer which has stayed quiet steady.
 
One of the main causes is the lack of symptoms because of which most patients do not realize that they are suffering from this cancer until the last stage where it becomes impossible to treat.
 
Death of Patrick Swayze, the “Dirty Dancing” star, has brought pancreatic cancer under the spotlight of U.S. researchers.
 
SciClone is also developing other drugs to treat cancer and infectious diseases which include H1N1 flu virus.