SEATTLE -- The maker of an experimental lung cancer drug is lowering the dosage used in clinical trials. That move comes after a few sick patients taking the drug died earlier than expected.

According to Cell Therapeutics Inc., fewer than 10 patients died after their infection-fighting white blood cells were destroyed in the tests.

Company officials would not give the exact number of deaths but say the patients who died had a median life expectancy of 10 weeks. It also would not say how many more patients died while being administered the experimental drug, Xyotax, compared with those who received standard chemotherapy.

CTI is spending millions on trials intended to prove that Xyotax is safer and more effective than Taxol in fighting non-small cell lung cancer.

A researcher for the company said it's common to begin with maximum drug dosages in preliminary trials, and then adjust it as needed.