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Biotech / Medical : Merck -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SIer formerly known as Joe B. who wrote (1288)	10/4/1999 11:55:00 PM
From: Mephisto	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1580

AND MERCK WORKS ON NEW DRUG: New antibody may attack cancer, arthritis - study By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent BOSTON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - A new antibody originally designed to fight cancer may also work against rheumatoid arthritis, a researcher said on Monday. He said the product, being developed by Gaithersburg, Maryland-based MedImmune,Inc., (NasdaqNM:MEDI - news), seemed especially safe in early trials in human volunteers. ``We noticed in all our patients not a single sign of toxicity,' Dr. Leon Cheresh of Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla,California, told reporters at a seminar. ``The nice thing is that no patients showed side-effects.' And Cheresh and other researchers said tests showed the product, one of a new and promising class of cancer drugs, called angiogenesis inhibitors, may also work against inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. The angiogenesis inhibitors stop tumor cells from tapping into blood vessels to feed themselves. About 20 are in various stages of development and have received a huge amount of attention. Cheresh's team worked on one particular phase of angiogenesis, in which cells send out parts known as receptors to attach to other cells. These are known as integrins. ``They allow the cells to migrate,' Cheresh said. ``They grab and let go and grab and let go.' This allows cells to creep along. Cheresh said he found that such integrins are also used by cells involved in inflammatory disease, such as rheumatoid arthritis. He focused on one particular integrin, called alpha-v-beta-3. He created an antibody that blocks the integrin from working. Ixsys Inc in San Diego, California has since developed it and has licensed it to MedImmune, which makes itunder the name Vitaxin. Cheresh tested it in animals and found it stopped the erosion of bone and cartilage that often marks rheumatoid arthritis. But the most intensive tests have been in cancer patients Doctors hope angiogenesis inhibitors can be added to standard cancer therapy to reduce the bad side-effects that patients suffer and to help control their cancer. Cheresh tested Vitaxin in 17 patients in Phase I clinical trials, designed simply to see if a new treatment is safe. They had various types of advanced and untreatable cancers, including colon, kidney and cervical cancer. One 44-year-old man with liver sarcoma was in 1997 expected to die within six months, yet is alive today. ``Many of his tumors disappeared completely,' Cheresh said. Phase II trials which further tested safety have shown similar results, in patients with an uncommon,difficult-to-treat tumor known as leiomyosarcoma, he said. In the meantime MedImmune has learned how to make large amounts of Vitaxin and plans more Phase II trials. ``Their next trial will be in literally thousands of patients,' Cheresh said. This will involve patients both with cancer and with rheumatoid arthritis, he added. He said drug giant Merck (NYSE:MRK - news) was working on a drug that mimics the effects of natural alpha-v-beta-3. Other researchers said they had evidence that angiogenesis inhibitors might not only help treat cancer but also rheumatoid arthritis. Dr. Bjorn Olsen of Harvard Medical School said he had worked with a Japanese team to test another such drug, EntreMed Inc's (NasdaqNM:ENMD - news) endostatin, on mice that had human tissue from rheumatoid arthritis patients implanted onto their backs. ``The results are rather dramatic,' he told the seminar, sponsored by Harvard. He said the swelling and inflammation went down. Endostatin is just beginning human trials in cancer patients. Tests on rheumatoid arthritis patients are years away, the researchers said.