In what’s already been a tough year for biotechnology companies, FibroGen’s has been particularly difficult.
Following a yearslong struggle to win U.S. approval of roxadustat as a treatment for chronic kidney disease patients, the company had been looking to a group of study readouts to boost its outlook. Instead, all of them, at least so far, have disappointed.
In May, roxadustat missed its mark in a Phase 3 study in a type of bone marrow cancer called myelodysplastic syndrome. The following month, its only other candidate in human testing, pamrevlumab, failed two late-stage trials in Duchenne muscular dystrophy and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
