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The current issue (Oct 1 - Vol 16, No.17) of Genetic Engeneering News hasa front page article entitled "Biotech and Pharmaceutical Companies Target Apoptosis for the Potential Treatment of Disease" by Vicki Brower. About a year ago they had another article outlinig the potential of programs focusing on apoptosis (programmed cell death) to treat a wide range of diseases. At that time the company with products in the most advanced trials was LGND. Not surprisingly, LGND has maintained its lead and theyare extensively covered in the current article. The article begins withresults presented at the Bear Stearn's Biotech conference suggesting that Targretin (LGD1069) may have applications for treating type II diabetes and treating or preventing breast cancer. They also mention the phase III trials for treatment of CTCL with oral or topical forms and the phase IIb trials targeting cancers of the kidney, prostate, head & neck, and Koposi's sarcoma and desribe some of the pre-clinical data as well as Targretin's specificity for RXRs. The article then desribes results forALRIZ's Panretin (ALRT1057). They mention the presentation at the AIDS conference as well as the pivotal phase III study for treatment of Kaposi's sarcoma and a scheduled NDA for 1997. They also show a pretty picture of a KS lesion before treatment and its absence 5 1/2 months later (after treatment with topical Panretin). The article discusses the advantage of targetting apoptosis as opposed to cell devision (many solid tumors do not devide very quickly and are difficult to specifically treat with agents that target cell devision). The article also mentions the 2000 retinoids that have been screened with a panel of 6 receptors, thephase III trials for oral Panretin for acute promyelocytic leukemia, and the many ongoing phase IIb trials for renal cell carcinoma (with alpha interferon), non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, multiple myeloma, prostate, ovarian,head & heck tumors as well as psoriasis and proliferative viteo-retinopathy. Others mentioned companies with apoptosis programs include MRK, BMY, Canji, Alexion, LXR, and Mitotix. The article goes onto describe programs of Mitotix (cell cycle regulation to target diseases with inappropriate cell proliferation), Canji (gene therapy targetting p53and RB), LXR (Elirex for transplant rejection), Idun (arrest endogenous apoptosis inhibitors encoded by the bcl-2 family for cancer and degenerative diseases), Cell Pathways (induction of apoptosis with a sulfide metabolite of sulindac for treating cancer and pre-cancerous conditions). |
