CombinatoRx halts psoriasis drug work.(Thursday, Feb. 23)

CombinatoRx Inc. is discontinuing work on its oral psoriasis drug, CRx-104, after Phase II data failed to show statistical significance. The 103-patient trial compared a 12-week treatment of CRx-104, a syncretic drug comprised of a low dose of cyclosporine and loratadine, to a low-dose cyclosporine, with the primary endpoint measured by the Physician Global Assessment (PGA) scale and a secondary endpoint measured by the Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI). Early data showed that patients receiving CRx-104 did not demonstrate a significant reduction in PGA and PASI vs. patients in the control group. As a result, the Boston-based firm decided to stop clinical …