More good press for Onyx: From today's San Jose Mercury News, a list of
new cancer treatments (featuring onyx-15):
NEW WEAPONS TO FIGHT CANCER
Traditional cancer treatments -- surgery, radiation and chemotherapy -- have
tried to cut out, burn or poison the destructive tumors. Now, however,
researchers are taking a more biological approach in attacking cancerous cells.
Here's a look at some recent developments:
Onyx-015 is a genetically altered adenovirus, one of the viruses that cause the
common cold. It is designed to kill cancer cells but spare normal ones by
exploiting a genetic difference between them. Limited testing in humans has
been successful.
Herceptin heightened benefits of chemotherapy by shrinking tumors and
slowing progression of a particular type of breast cancer driven by multiple
copies of a gene called HER-2.
Angiostatin and endostatin are two natural drugs that kill tumors by blocking
new blood vessel formation, known as angiogenesis. The new drugs have
been successful in mice but are still at least 12 months away from human trials.
Taxol, a cancer medicine already used against ovarian and advanced breast
cancer, interferes with cancer cell division by tangling up the cells' molecular
''skeletons.'' It now has been shown to increase survival dramatically in
women with early breast cancer. Made from needles and twigs of yew trees, it
stops the cancer-promoting effects of the hormone estrogen.
Source: Reporting by Mercury News Staff Writer Lisa Krieger
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