Eli Lilly and Company announced Dec. 13, 2010 the immediate suspension of their Phase III trial of tasisulam for unresectable or metastatic melanoma.
The company said in a statement that its action was taken in consultation with an independent data monitoring committee that recommended a "full clinical hold" because of safety concerns. The statement did not specify the nature of those safety concerns.
Lilly is testing tasisulam in other cancers, including soft tissue sarcoma, breast, ovarian, and renal cancers, non-small cell lung cancer, and acute leukemia. The company is continuing those trials without modification because the dosing of tasisulam is different.