Drug Addicted

A brand new bit of news that explains, yet again, where that $2 billion figure comes from. Drug companies that keep throwing good money after bad really, really have to be punished in such a way that doesn't punish the rest of us.

Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc. shares fell 47% in premarket trade Thursday after the company said a mid-stage trial of a treatment for non-small cell lung cancer, or NSCLC, missed its main goal. The Henderson, Nevada-based company said the phase 2 trial dubbed Zenith20 evaluating poziotinib in previously treated NSCLC patients was not met in the first group of 115 patients receiving 15 mg a day. "While the response rate of Cohort 1 in this trial was lower than we expected, the positive signals observed for this cohort provide support for the continued clinical evaluation of poziotinib in this patient population with significant unmet medical need," Chief Executive Joe Turgeon said in a statement.
[my emphasis]

Note that history shows that Phase 3 trials always do poorer than preceding trials.