All GLG News Analyses Filed Under: Oncology

Panzem is an oral formulation of 2-methoxyestradiol with multiple anti-tumor actions. These include tubulin disruption to halt mitosis (cell division), apoptosis stimulation and, similarly to Avastin (bevacizumab), angiogenesis inhibition.      87% of patients had stable disease...

Anemia represents a common problem in patients treated with chemotherapy.  Although Aranesp and Procrit represented frequently used therapies for the treatment of chemotherapy induced anemia, the recent warnings regarding potential toxicities of these agents limit their use by many physicians. ...

Avastin was approved for wider use in the EU with multiple chem agents including Roche's Xeloda (Can you say synergy?)

Amgen's financial report reflects the decreased sales of its ESA's , mainly Aranesp which were associated with increased mortality and cardiovascular side effects. This trend of decreased use is unlikely to be reversed with the impending FDA review in March. Denosumab a monoclonal antibody being used...

A monoclonal antibody may "rescue" Amgen from the fall off in erythropoietin use.

BMS paid Exilexis $ 20 million for rights to develope a small molecule targeting hedgepathway taht is involved in many cancers like melanoma, basalcell carcinoma and brain tumors. The field is crowded with such "targeted agents' many of which are in a later stage of development, so BMS is taking significant...

BMS is basically taking a flyer that  this new targeting agent will be clinically efficacious.

The medical and scientific worlds lost a great man when Dr. Judah Folkman recently passed away. His work in anti-angiogenesis was very inspiring and created a whole new area of scientific research to fight cancer, which eventually led to new drugs and treatments, principally Avastin. Dr. Folkman was...

Deforolimus is an analog of rapamycin that has been shown to inhibit mTOR activity. This is only a phase I trial and is rather dated but still points to potential efficacy. The editorial in the JCO http://jco.ascopubs.org/cgi/content/full/26/3/348   points to the hopes and future for this...

Dr. Folkman first prposed that targeting anti-angiogenesis in an article in 1971. Genentech's antiangiogenesis drug , Avastin is a block buster and has had modest succeses in treatment of advanced colorectal ,breast, and renal cancer. Angiogenesis is only one pathway involved in cancer development and...