• ImClone Systems Inc., of New York, updated results from its Erbitux Phase III lung cancer study with taxane and carboplatin, showing that it did not meet its primary endpoint of progression free survival (PFS), as assessed by an independent radiology review committee. Response rate, as assessed by the committee, and PFS, as assessed by clinical investigators, were statistically significant and favored the Erbitux-containing arm. In the recently completed analysis of BMS-099, median overall survival in patients receiving Erbitux in combination with a taxane and carboplatin was 9.7 months, compared to 8.4 months with chemotherapy alone, with a hazard ratio of 0.89 [(95 percent CI = 0.75-1.05), p = 0.17]. The results from the overall survival analysis did not reach statistical significance, the company said. BMS-099, a 676-patient study, was not powered to detect an improvement in overall survival with the same degree of statistical precision as was the larger 1,125-patient pivotal FLEX Phase III study conducted by Merck KGaA, of Darmstadt, Germany. Nonetheless, the BMS-099 survival results supported those of FLEX, of which overall survival was the primary endpoint.