“The problem at the moment is that it takes $1bn [£600m] to get a drug to market and 15 years or more. That is the justification for the pharmaceutical industry charging high prices.
If on the other hand by the time you get to phase 2 you know exactly which patients it is going to work on, you only put those patients through and instead of 10% you get an 80% response rate.
We discuss the pathogenesis of cancer quite a bit on this blog, but today I wanted to take a look at immune disorders, specifically, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) or lupus for short.
Lupus is an autoimmune disease characterised by often widespread multi-organ inflammation, although the skin, kidney, and joints are often affected. The main reason behind this phenomenon is the inability of the immune system to discriminate between self-antigens and foreign ones.
Writing this many articles certainly wasn’t one of my goals when I first started blogging about the science behind cancer, 100 seemed like the north face of the Eiger at the time! I’m not sure how many of you have been with me since the first few posts, but this seems a great opportunity to thank everyone for dropping by and reading, whether it’s your first time or you’ve been a regular for a while. All the comments and emails received have been very much appreciated.
The last quarter of the year is always a busy one on the conference circuit in oncology, particularly in December with the annual ASH and the SABCS meetings back to back. We almost always need the Holidays after that just to recover!
Here's my schedule for the next few weeks:
Oct 20th: Xconomy, 'War on Cancer', Boston hosted by Millennium
Oct 27-30th: AACR colorectal cancer biology and therapy symposium, Philadelphia
Nov 8-13th: Greenspan Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium, Marriott Marquis Times Square, NY
All three meetings look particularly interesting this year, with a big focus on biology and new product development.