Pharmaceutical company GSK announced Friday that it is pulling the plug on further development of an experimental drug designed to treat refractory chronic cough, after the medication came up short on one of its key benchmarks in a late-stage clinical trial.
Following the news, the company’s stock slid 2%, dropping to 1,916 pence per share.
The drug, known as Camlipixant, showed mixed results during the trial. At its 50 mg dose, the medication successfully met one of its primary goals — reducing how often patients coughed over a 24-hour period compared to those taking a placebo — when taken twice daily over a 12-week period. However, the drug failed to achieve statistical significance when measured against that same goal at the 24-week mark, according to GSK.
Because the drug did not consistently meet its main objectives throughout the full duration of the trial, GSK said it has decided against moving the treatment forward.
