GTx Inc. said on Friday its prostate cancer treatment will continue the late stage of its clinical trial as it did not bear the results that were expected. Shares of the company slumped.

GTx said on a statement, an independent biometrics group recommended that GTX's prostate cancer drug Toremifene or Acapodene for its brand name, should continue the Phase III clinical as planned following an interim efficacy analysis.

If the interim results of the trial are positive, the company could have submitted the product to the Food and Drug Administration for marketing review . GTx said it will make a final determination in the summer of 2009 about toremifene's clinical trial after an efficacy study.

The late stage clinical trial evaluates the treatment in men with high grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia or PIN, who are at increased risk of getting prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer among men in the United States. In 2004, 189,075 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer in the country and 29,002 died of this disease, according to the latest data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Shares of Gtx slumped 7.20 percent to $15.07 in afternoon Nasdaq trade on Friday.

Medicine Cancer