Chalks up success with new drug,Pfizer Halts Inspra Trial Enrollment On Early Success

Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) said on Thursday it is halting recruitment of patients into a heart failure clinical study involving its drug Inspra because the study reached its main efficacy goal early.

Pfizer shares rose 21 cents, or 1.4%, to $15.33 Thursday.

The world's largest drugmaker said patients treated with Inspra and the current standard of care had a significant reduction in the risk of cardiovascular death or heart failure hospitalization compared to people treated with a placebo and the standard of care.

"It is not common for clinical studies to conclude early for reasons of efficacy," Faiez Zannad, a researcher at Inserm and University of Nancy, France, and co-chair of the executive steering committee of the trial, said in a Pfizer press release. "The Emphasis-HF trial had an estimated end date around October 2011 so to have met the pre-defined efficacy endpoints early is certainly a positive outcome."