Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca stopped studies of experimental painkillers over concerns that a class of drugs once expected to generate as much as $11 billion in annual sales may raise the risk of joint damage. The Food and Drug Administration told J&J last week that the development program for its drug fulranumab had been put on hold, Jeffrey Leebaw, a spokesman for New Brunswick, N.J.-based J&J, said in an e-mail.
London-based AstraZeneca said Monday it has voluntarily stopped early-stage research of a similar medicine. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals of Tarrytown, N.Y., said Monday the FDA had halted trials of its treatment in the class known as anti-nerve-growth factors.
Pfizer suspended trials of the pain drug tanezumab in June after reports that patients in one of its studies needed joint replacements. The move left nerve-growth inhibitors “tainted” and has lowered investors’ expectations, said Ziad Bakri, a Cowen & Co. analyst in New York.
Before New York-based Pfizer halted its trials at the FDA’s request, nerve-growth treatments were estimated to reach up to $11 billion in annual sales, Catherine Arnold, a Credit Suisse analyst in New York, wrote in a May 3 note to investors. Bloomberg News
