Rigel to drop skin disease drug after trial failure

(Reuters) – Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc said it would stop the development of its drug to treat skin lesions in patients with discoid lupus, a chronic skin disease, after the treatment failed a mid-stage trial. Shares of the company fell nearly 9 percent to $3.24 in premarket trading. This is the third setback for Rigel this year and comes about two months after the company stopped the development of its asthma drug, which failed a mid-stage trial. British drugmaker AstraZeneca stopped developing Rigel’s rheumatoid arthritis treatment, fostamatinib, in June, which it licensed from Rigel in 2010. …