FDA panel rejects AZ's new RSV drug in key setback

AstraZeneca's (NYSE: AZN) attempt to come up with a successor to its blockbuster RSV drug Synagis has run into some heavy flak, with an FDA panel turning their thumbs down on motavizumab in a lopsided vote.

The experimental drug had been in MedImmune's pipeline as a successor to Synagis when AstraZeneca bought up the Maryland biotech three years ago. But by a vote of 14 to 3 the FDA experts raised a red flag on data linking motavizumab to a higher number of allergic reactions while criticizing the lack of proof of improved efficacy over Synagis--which loses patent protection in 2015. Synagis earns slightly more than a billion dollars a year. RSV is a respiratory illness that afflicts some 125,000 babies each year.................................&more