GSK GSK plc

By Ed Ballard

GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) Tuesday said it had called a halt to a late-stage trial of a cancer vaccine.

The U.K. drug company announced on March 20 that the immunotherapy treatment, MAGE-A3, didn't boost survival rates among patients with non-small-cell lung cancer, or NSCLC. GSK continued with the trial in the hope of finding a subset of patients who might benefit from the treatment.

"[It] will not be possible to identify a sub-population of gene-signature positive NSCLC patients that may benefit from the treatment," GSK said in a statement Tuesday.

An earlier late-stage study of the same drug last year failed to extend survival in patients with melanoma.

Write to Ed Ballard at ed.ballard@wsj.com

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