Hi Mark
The following clips are from a LOR NR from last year. It contains the results of Phase I/II of Virulizin for Pancreatic cancer. LOR investors are still waiting for a formal NR that Virulizin Phase III will begin. That's almost 16 months and counting, after the Phase II results were released.
The header:
JUNE 26, 2000
TSE: LOR
NASDAQ OTC BB: LORFF
TORONTO, CANADA - June 26, 2000 - Lorus Therapeutics Inc. (Lorus)
announced today that a completed meta-analysis of three Phase I/II studies of
Virulizin® showed that the drug had demonstrated clinical activity (such as
increasing survival rate and preserving quality of life) and was well tolerated by
patients. Based on these encouraging findings, Lorus plans to file an
investigational new drug application (IND) later in the year in preparation for a
pivotal Phase III clinical trial.
Below, the survival times are better than traditional first line, but marginally. These must be very sick people who participated in the LOR pancrease cancer clinicals. It does appear to help, but not terribly impressive. I recall Biomira Theratope's (vaccine) survival times was very impressive for women with metastatic breast cancer. Also very sick women in that study. In OXO's case, the WF10 phase II study was also very impressive. Similarily, conducted with very sick AIDS/HIV patients.
None the less, Virulizin does offer some positive effect on the macrophage to extend patient lives several months. It is encouraging that WF10 may modulate the macrophage better. In a tangent, when I wrote you the other day, in the back of my mind I was wondering (of course, in your opinion), how solid is WF10's patent and intellectual property?
The results:
Virulizin® Meta-Analysis Results
Sixty-one patients were included in this analysis, with 49 classified as
evaluable. The majority of these patients (87%) had received some form of
treatment prior to entering these studies: 46 per cent receiving gemcitabine,
5-FU or other chemotherapeutic agents and 84 per cent had prior surgery.
There was no difference in survival between patients who had or had no prior
chemotherapy, but those who did not receive prior surgery had worse
prognosis as compared to those who had prior surgery.
Among the 61 eligible patients treated with Virulizin®, the median survival rate
was 4.6 months. The six-month survival rate was 38 per cent and the
nine-month survival rate was 25 per cent. In terms of evaluable patients (49
patients) the median survival rate was 5.7 months (95% C.I. from 4.6 months to
8.0 months) with six-month and nine-month survival rates of 48 per cent and 31
per cent, respectively.
This result is better when compared to that of 63 patients who received
gemcitabine as second line therapy after they had failed 5-FU as
chemotherapy (Rothenberg et al.). The median survival in the Rothenberg
study was approximately 3.8 months, with a six-month survival rate of 31 per
cent and a nine-month survival of 15 per cent. |
