Category Archives: New products

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.

This is a preview of Stunning data with dabrafenib (BRAFV600E) in metastatic melanoma and brain metastases. Read the full post

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!).

This is a preview of ASCO 2012 Acronym Mania!. Read the full post

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.

This is a preview of Ribonucleases (RNase) – clinical applications for cancer therapy. Read the full post

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.

This is a preview of Ribonucleases (RNase) what are they and why are they relevant to cancer?. Read the full post

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:

This is a preview of Highlights of AACR 2012 – Part 3. Read the full post

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.

This is a preview of American Association for Cancer Research Meeting 2012. Read the full post

On adaptive mechanisms of crizotinib resistance in ALK-positive lung cancer

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One of the biggest challenges facing cancer research was aptly summarised by Levi Garraway and Pasi Jänne in this month’s Cancer Discovery journal:

“All successful cancer therapies are limited by the development of drug resistance. The increase in the understanding of the molecular and biochemical bases of drug efficacy has also facilitated studies elucidating the mechanism(s) of drug resistance.”

It will therefore come as no surprise to PSB readers that resistance occurs with two drugs approved by the FDA only last year; vemurafenib (BRAFV600E melanoma) and crizotinib (ALK+ lung cancer). We’ve discussed the development of resistance in melanoma here via several potential mechanisms in the past and potential strategies for overcoming them (eg MEK inhibitors), but what about lung cancer?

This is a preview of On adaptive mechanisms of crizotinib resistance in ALK-positive lung cancer. Read the full post

J&J unblind Zytiga phase 3 trial in pre-chemotherapy castrate-resistant prostate cancer

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The big cancer news that hit the news wires this morning was not entirely surprising:

“Janssen Research & Development, LLC today announced that it has unblinded the Phase 3 study of ZYTIGA (abiraterone acetate) plus prednisone for the treatment of asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) who have not received chemotherapy.”

Source: Press Release

Given the accelerated approval of abiraterone in the post-chemotherapy setting last year, the results in the pre-chemotherapy setting were widely expected to:

  1. Be even better in earlier stage than the 3.9 months OS advantage already seen
This is a preview of J&J unblind Zytiga phase 3 trial in pre-chemotherapy castrate-resistant prostate cancer. Read the full post