Axelar AB, of Stockholm, Sweden, announced final results from a Phase II study of AXL1717 in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) showing no statistically significant difference in rate of progression-free survival (PFS) between patients treated with AXL1717 compared to the group treated with docetaxel. The trial enrolled 101 patients with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC with a primary objective of showing an advantage in PFS at 12 weeks. For patients receiving AXL1717, the PFS rate was 25.9 percent and 39 percent in the docetaxel group. The difference was not statistically significant. The secondary endpoints were PFS and overall survival, and neither of those endpoints showed a statistically confirmed difference between the two treatment groups.

Threshold Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, said the target enrollment of 620 patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma has been achieved in the company’s pivotal Phase III trial of TH-302, its investigational hypoxia-targeted drug. The enrollment achievement triggers a milestone payment of $12.5 million from Merck KGaA, of Darmstadt, Germany. Threshold has a global license and co-development agreement with Merck for TH-302, which includes an option for Threshold to co-commercialize in the U.S. The trial is enrolling patients with metastatic or locally advanced unresectable soft tissue sarcoma and is designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of TH-302 in combination with doxorubicin, compared to doxorubicin alone. Primary efficacy data are to be reported in the first half of 2015.