Andy, The SERMs have many applications. Estrogen has many benefits, but it also has side effects. The SERMs are screened for retaining the benefits, but not the side effects. Their activity is dependent of the context of the estrogen receptor in the various tissues. That is why they are called Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators.
LGND's initial alliance with PFE was to find molecules that behave like estrogen on bone and cariac cells, but not like estrogen on breast or endometrial cells. I'm sure that LGND is well aware of the various benefits (as well as side effects). They can screen for different SERMs with different activities. I am fairly certain that they have a rather advanced and large Alzheimer program.
First they find molecules that interact with the estrogen receptor. Then they look for various activities in different tissues. As you can imagine, the market is huge. However, since LGND has access to PFE, AHP, and LLY libraries, in addition to whatever their medicinal chemist come up with based on modification as active compounds, its easy to see why LGND would emerge as the leader in the area, and why more companies such as LLY would want to get in on the action.
When the WSJ did their article on anti-estrogens in 1995, LGND was the only company that had two distinct alliances. Now they have three and their androgen program is more mature. I expect to hear about Alzheimer candidates in the not too distant future. |
