Swiss company Novartis AG has reported that an independent data monitoring committee stopped a major trial of an investigational drug after interim results showed significantly better survival rates in kidney-cancer patients taking the therapy.Novartis was in Phase III of clinical trials, but the independent committee stopped the trial, involving some 400 patients in a dozen countries, because the study met its primary endpoint. Researchers say the targeted therapy could have promise for people with late-stage renal-cell cancer. Researchers are also evaluating the drug’s use in neuroendocrine tumors, lymphoma and other cancers.

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