Merck, Intercell End MRSA Vax-Trial

Merck and Intercell AG have terminated the Phase II/III trial investigating Staphylococcus aureus vaccine, V710, following analysis of the trial data and the unanimous recommendation by an independent Data Monitoring Committee (DMC).

The DMC informed Merck that the trial had not met the formal futility criteria but recommended that enrollment in the trial be suspended pending additional analyses of the benefits and risks of vaccination. The decision to terminate was based on the observation that V710 was unlikely to demonstrate a statistically significant clinical benefit, as well as a safety concern regarding overall mortality and multi-organ dysfunction that occurred with greater frequency in vaccine recipients, compared with placebo.