J&J shut­ters PhI­II tri­al for pul­monary hy­per­ten­sion drug, block­ing its ex­pand­ed use as patent ex­piry looms

John­son & John­son has crossed off a Phase III tri­al from its plans, which was de­signed to ex­pand the use of hy­per­ten­sion drug Op­sum­it af­ter an in­ter­im analy­sis sug­gest­ed it’s un­like­ly to work.

J&J’s Janssen unit be­gan the Phase III MACiTEPH tri­al in 2020 to test maci­ten­tan, an Acte­lion drug first ap­proved in 2013 to treat pul­monary ar­te­r­i­al hy­per­ten­sion (PAH), for a sim­i­lar con­di­tion known as chron­ic throm­boem­bol­ic pul­monary hy­per­ten­sion (CTEPH). But af­ter re­view­ing in­ter­im re­sults, the study’s in­de­pen­dent da­ta mon­i­tor­ing com­mit­tee rec­om­mend­ed stop­ping the tri­al, J&J said in a state­ment.

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