Keryx enrolling patents in phase 3 trial for colorectal cancer drug

NEW YORK Drug maker Keryx Biopharmaceuticals has started registration for a late-stage clinical trial of a pill for colorectal cancer, Keryx announced Thursday.

The company hopes to have the phase 3 trial, for KRX-0401 (perifosine), finished in the second half of 2011. The trial will enroll about 430 patients with refractory, advanced colorectal cancer who will take either KRX-0401 and Genentech’s chemotherapy drug Xeloda (capecitabine) or placebo and Xeloda.

To enroll in the trial, dubbed X-PECT, patients must have failed to improve when taking therapies such as Sanofi-Aventis’ Eloxatin (oxaliplatin), Genentech’s Avastin (bevacizumab), Pfizer’s Camptosar (irinotecan), 5-fluorouracil, Eli Lilly’s and Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Erbitux (cetuximab) or Amgen’s Vectibix (panitumumab).