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Biotech / Medical : CLTR COULTER PHARMACEUTICAL

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To: WTDEC who wrote (379)11/20/1999 9:13:00 PM
From: Bob L  Read Replies (2) of 666
 
Maybe we are giving different weight to different abstracts. You said, "The available facts show that in refactory cases, Bexxar shows a 70% response versus 46% on Zev." I don't see why we should limit this to refractory cases. My notes are that overall response for bexxar was 53% and zevalin was 68%. Bexxar better on complete response at 33% vs. 23%. Maybe I copied this down wrong, but the populations are so small in these studies and the variation in forms of NHL among patients so great that I think we are straining our eyes for naught.

You also said "Zev gives rise to a fair number of cases of neutropenia and thrombocytopenia while Bexxar does not." Here, I'll have to flat disagree. One abstract noted ANC <500 for 19% of bexxar patients. Thrombocytopenia has also been a problem with bexxar. For this the bexxar abstract said <10K in 4%, but 10K is too low a threshold to compare. (The Zev abstract used Grade 4, which is platelets <25K.) As PB mentioned, some think that Kaminsky and co. have been a bit, er, vague about the exact adverse effects profile. Vaguer is not safer.

I just don't see anything like a statistical significant difference in response and adverse effects shown in these abstracts. But of course I will yield to anyone with actual credentials in statistics. Or medicine for that matter. <g>

Both of these products should be approved, sooner rather than later, and taken to market. Let the chips fall where they may. We will need a lot more patients treated to know which is better.
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