Author Archives: MaverickNY

Stunning data with dabrafenib (BRAFV600E) in metastatic melanoma and brain metastases

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Sometimes following the progress of cancer drugs can be very depressing given the failure rate, but every now and then something comes along that really brightens the landscape considerably. This week was one of those times.

Stunning data with dabrafenib (BRAFV600E) in metastatic melanoma and brain metastases

Dabrafenib

Eighteen months ago, I posted a note from the 2010 ESMO meeting regarding GSK’s GSK208436 (now known as dabrafenib) in an early phase I/II trial in brain metastases associated with melanoma that was presented by Dr Georgina Long on behalf of an Australian group.

Do check out that original post – it’s well worth reading for some background context in the light of the new data.

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Reflections of a Medical Oncologist on AACR 2012

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While thoughts have already turned to the forthcoming ASCO 2012 meeting and today I am off to AUA 2012 in Atlanta, the annual meeting of the American Association Association for Cancer Research (AACR) last month continues to generate insights.

At AACR I was delighted to meet up with Philippe Aftimos, MD, a Clinical Research Fellow at the Jules Bordet Institute in Brussels, Belgium.   Philippe is medical coordinator of the Clinical Research Unit and someone who I met through social media (@aftimosp), so it was a pleasure to meet in person.

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ASCO 2012 Preview – Highlights of key data emerging from Chicago

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It’s that time of the year again where we cogitate and contemplate on what might be hot at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) before the abstracts are available (they’re released online tomorrow at 6pm ET).

This year, while interesting early data from up and coming small biotechs is likely to be eagerly presented in poster sessions, the focus is more likely going to be on big Pharma with various phase III and also late phase II trials that are due to report data.  Unfortunately, not all of these will produce overwhelmingly positive results though!

This is a preview of ASCO 2012 Preview – Highlights of key data emerging from Chicago. Read the full post

ASCO 2012 Acronym Mania!

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Many of you will remember PSB reader Dr Al Lalani of Regeneron’s guest blog post around this time last year with a quick summary of the key clinical trials at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting based on the study acronyms, which turned out to be highly popular.

Fortunately, Al has kindly sent in a review of this year’s trials in a very creative fashion, as you can see below (PSB: Thanks, Al!).

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Ribonucleases (RNase) – clinical applications for cancer therapy

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This is the second post of a two-part mini series on RNases with Dr Laura Strong of Quintessence Biosciences.  If you haven’t yet read it, check out yesterday’s post, which focused on Ribonucleases (RNase) – what are they and why are they relevant to cancer?

Yesterday, we learned that RNases kill cancer cells by a novel mechanism – destruction of RNA – and may be synergistic with some chemotherapy agents.

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Ribonucleases (RNase) what are they and why are they relevant to cancer?

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At the recent American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting, I had the pleasure of meeting several interesting young scientists and physicians either in the poster halls or in various scientific sessions.  It seemed a great idea to encourage some of them to contribute some guess blog posts here on PSB.

AACR 2012 Laura Strong Poster 300x176 Ribonucleases (RNase) what are they and why are they relevant to cancer?

Dr Laura Strong, Photo courtesy of Pieter Droppert, Biotech Strategy Blog

Amongst the people I met was Dr Laura Strong, President and COO of Quintessence Biosciences.

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Highlights of AACR 2012 – Part 3

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Aside from the already published Part 1 and Part 2 blog posts about AACR here on PSB, you can also find some more coverage, including summaries of other topics, on the companion Biotech Strategy Blog, such as the following:

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Highlights of AACR 2012 – Part 2

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Yesterday, I mentioned that some of the best bits of this year’s American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting were the numerous gems in the poster sessions.

Reuben Sierra AACR e1334766105891 224x300 Highlights of AACR 2012 Part 2

Reuben Sierra, Ming Tsao's Lab (with permission)

One of the coolest such posters I came across was from Ming Tsao’s group.

Specifically, Rafael Sierra (see photo right) was hosting an excellent piece of research entitled: “Overcoming resistance to EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy in non-small cell lung cancer.”

This is an area of much needed research and breakthroughs.

Why?

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Highlights of AACR 2012 – Part 1

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The 2012 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting in Chicago was interesting for several reasons.  While there were no truly ground breaking data such as in previous years as with, for example:

  • vemurafenib in BRAFV600E melanoma
  • vismodegib in basal cell carcinoma (BCC)
  • crizotinib in ALK+ lung cancer

there were a lot of encouraging signs for the future.

What made the meeting exciting for me was the sheer number of new compounds emerging from late preclinical to early phase I – clearly companies are looking to restock their pipelines with the threat of major patent cliffs imminent.  Not everyone is chasing new compounds to license in!  The sheer breadth and depth of the pathways targeted by the new compounds took me a little by surprise.

This is a preview of Highlights of AACR 2012 – Part 1. Read the full post

American Association for Cancer Research Meeting 2012

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Today marks the kick off for one of my favourite conferences on the oncology-hematology calendar, with the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) being held in Chicago.  It’s all about the science and basic research here, although there are clinical sessions, usually on strategy and early emerging phase I/II data.

Wifi is usually pretty good at the AACR annual meeting, although it can be more variable at the smaller meetings.  Like many attendees, wifi permitting, I’ll be tweeting from the conference and blogging some of the interesting highlights over the next few days.

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