ANGIOPOIETIN INHIBITORS SHOW PROMISE IN OVARIAN CANCER 

(Reuters) - Amgen Inc said on Wednesday that the drug trebananib reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 34% in a clinical trial of women with recurrent ovarian cancer.

Trebananib is an investigational peptibody designed to inhibit the angiopoietin axis, which is involved in angiogenesis, the company said.

Amgen said the drug met its primary goal in the trial, which is the first of three for the investigational agent.

Amgen said that while it was working on the primary analysis of overall survival for 2014, it saw a favorable survival trend in an interim analysis.

The phase 3 TRINOVA-1 trial is evaluating trebananib plus paclitaxel versus placebo plus paclitaxel in women with recurrent ovarian cancer.

"The TRINOVA-1 study is the first of three Phase 3 trials designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of trebananib in patients with ovarian cancer," said Dr. Sean E. Harper, executive vice president of Research and Development at Amgen.

"Angiopoietin inhibition has been a focus of research at Amgen and these results suggest that the novel biology of trebananib may offer a promising approach for patients with ovarian cancer," he added.