Hundreds of stories about new developments against cancer came out the past few days at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago. I didn’t cover the meeting on site this year, but here are a few of the highlights that caught my eye.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Pushes Hard To Maintain Cancer Immunotherapy Edge
Investors were less enthused, as some entered the meeting with sky-high expectations of $6 billion in sales or more. Some were spooked by data on the PD-L1 biomarker, which can difficult to measure consistently, and because it raises questions about whether it will narrow the drug’s addressable market. Wall Street, seeking to absorb all the data from a busy meeting, continued to debate what it all meant. The company lost about $3 a share at the meeting, and traded at $65.86 as of 1:10 pm ET. Some analysts thought the reaction was overdone. "We think BMY has strengthened its leadership position in I-O," wrote Credit Suisse analyst Vamil Divan, in a note to clients near the end of the meeting. Divan continued to rate the company an "outperform" with a price target of $75.
Merck’s Immunotherapy Horse Stays in the First Wave
Genentech Follows Fast in the PD-1/PD-L1 Immunotherapy Field
While Bristol-Myers and Merck are at the forefront with their PD-1/PD-L1 inhibiting drugs already on the market for certain uses,
Celldex Reports Progress Against Brain Cancer
Researchers haven’t had much to brag about in recent years for treating a type of primary brain tumor, known as glioblastoma multiforme. Hampton, NJ-based Celldex Therapeutics released further data from its immunotherapy rindopepimut (Rintega), from a clinical trial that randomly assigned 73 patients to get the new drug in addition to the standard treatment-- Genentech’s bevacizumab (Avastin)--or the standard treatment alone. About 28% were alive and with tumors that hadn’t worsened after six months of treatment compared with 16% who did that well on standard therapy. After 18 months of follow-up, 30% of patients on the Celldex drug were alive compared with 15% of those in the control group. The company is discussing whether the data are compelling enough to seek accelerated approval from the FDA, according to this report by TheStreet.com’s Adam Feuerstein.
While effective new treatments are welcome, cancer doctors need to be aware of the perils of overtreatment as well. That’s sometimes true when cancer spreads to the brain. Researchers reported on a study that raised doubts about the use of radiation treatment against brain metastases. See a story by the Wall Street Journal’s Ron Winslow for more.
Cancer Drug Prices Continue to Stoke Controversy
Leonard Saltz, an oncologist at
Progress Isn’t All About Drugs. Information Matters, Too
Stories of progress in cancer wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the quest for better information about the molecular nature of tumors, to help form better personalized treatment strategies. Many different companies are working on this concept, including the drugmakers who are seeking to select patients for trials based on whether their tumors carry certain biomarkers like PD-L1. Cambridge, Mass.-based Foundation Medicine, built on DNA sequencing technology that helps doctors find common genetic abnormalities that drive tumors, reported on one study done with MD Anderson Cancer Center that showed hunting for these abnormalities led to promising new treatment ideas against biliary tract cancers. One of Foundation’s challenges as a business has been payers who are unwilling to pay thousands of dollars for its test. If Foundation can continue to gather mounting evidence that such personalized treatment strategies do indeed deliver better results for patients, then it will be in position to be reimbursed well enough to someday become profitable. Roche already bet more than $1 billion to acquire a majority stake in Foundation Medicine earlier this year, so it obviously sees an encouraging trend. See a feature on the company from Bloomberg’s Caroline Chen.
Another company seeking to slash through thorny reimbursement challenges with molecular tests, InVitae, unveiled a new low-price strategy. For just $475, consumers can pay for out of their own pocket to get genetic information that could help guide their treatment for cancer or other diseases. Matthew Herper of Forbes spoke to InVitae founder Randy Scott about the strategy.
Rare Encouragement Against Ovarian Cancer
Ovarian cancer is often detected late in the game, making it especially tough to treat. But Waltham, Mass.-based Immunogen, a company that makes targeted antibodies loaded with toxins to make them more potent tumor-killers, presented some encouraging results. Data were from a small study of just 17 patients with ovarian cancer, but these were severely ill women, and more than half (53%) saw their tumors shrink significantly after getting the ImmunoGen drug. Blurred vision was observed in about half of the patients, however, and one patient dropped out of the study because of it, researchers said. See Adam Feuerstein’s coverage from TheStreet.com.
A Mixed Bag for Treatment of Breast Cancer
Breast cancer surgeons had to take note of a study presented at ASCO which showed that if they sliced out just a little more tissue when removing a tumor, the patients performed better, without noticing any cosmetic difference. AP’s Marilynn Marchione reported on that interesting study.
On the drug front, Seattle-based Oncothyreon offered some encouraging, albeit preliminary, results from a pair of small trials that enrolled heavily pre-treated patients with tumors that overexpress the HER2 protein. The company’s drug appeared to help some patients whose tumors had spread to the brain, which gives them a particularly grim prognosis. That contrasted with Los Angeles-based Puma Biotechnology, which had a rough ASCO after it presented data from a Phase III study that offered what one researcher called an "awfully small" marginal benefit for HER2-positive patients, along with significant diarrhea as a side effect. Once again, TheStreet.com’s Adam Feuerstein had the story.
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