Sec­ond dose of Sophiris' prostate can­cer drug proves fu­tile, shares crash

Fol­low­ing a pa­tient death that was ruled un­re­lat­ed to the study drug, Sophiris Bio con­tin­ued test­ing a sec­ond ad­min­is­tra­tion of its ex­per­i­men­tal drug in pa­tients with prostate can­cer who re­spond­ed well to the first round of dos­ing. That faith was in vain, as re-treat­ment with the drug, top­salysin, failed to con­fer ad­di­tion­al ben­e­fit in the Phase IIb study, oblit­er­at­ing the San-Diego-based com­pa­ny’s shares $SPHS af­ter the bell on Mon­day.

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