AstraZeneca's Calquence fails COVID-19 study, joining the list of repurposed meds that have fallen short

Months after drugmakers launched an unprecedented COVID-19 research effort, some existing medicines have turned in promising results—but more of them have failed against the virus. And AstraZeneca’s blood cancer med Calquence just became one of them, falling short in two tests in hospitalized patients. AstraZeneca said Thursday that the medicine—already approved in mantle cell lymphoma—didn't help patients survive the virus and reduce respiratory failure any better than supportive care did, citing data from two phase 2 trials. The company set out to test the medicine back in April after researchers at the NIH’s National Cancer Institute observed “some clinical benefit” when the drug was used in a small number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients with advanced lung disease at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Forbes reported at the time.