Maxim Begins New Drug Study

Maxim Pharmaceuticals Inc. is trying again to win regulatory approval of a medicine previously rejected by the Food and Drug Administration by starting a new study of patients with advanced skin cancer.

The San Diego drug maker began a 224-patient trial designed to show that patients survive longer with its experimental compound Ceplene. The trial compares patients getting Ceplene and the approved treatment interleukin-2 with those getting IL-2 alone, Maxim said.

Maxim shares rose 23 cents to close at $6.35 on Nasdaq.