Perhaps there will be a delayed market reaction to CLTR news?
CLTR did not respond to todays news. Maybe it will tomorrow. In contrast IDEC soared today. Check the following release and you tell me which is the better drug. Bexxar by Coulter has higher total remissions in trials with fewer side effects. So why did IDEC soar and CLTR lanquish. Perhaps a more appropriate action will show tomorrow.
Tuesday December 5, 6:45 pm Eastern Time
CORRECTED - Radioactive antibodies effective
against lymphoma-studies
In LOS ANGELES story ``Radioactive antibodies effective against lymphoma-studies,''
please read in 22nd paragraph ``patients who achieved remission with Bexxar...'' instead of
``patients who achieved remission with Zevalin..'' (corrects name of drug)
A corrected version follows:
By Deena Beasley
LOS ANGELES, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Experimental drugs that use cloned antibodies to deliver radiation directly to cancerous
lymphoma tumors are effective in most patients who do not respond to standard therapies, researchers said on Tuesday.
Results from clinical trials of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma drugs Zevalin and Bexxar were presented at a meeting of the American
Society of Hematology in San Francisco.
The research showed that Zevalin, made by IDEC Pharmaceuticals Corp. (NasdaqNM:IDPH - news), was effective in 74
percent of patients, 15 percent of whom went into complete remission.
Potential competitor, Bexxar, which is being developed by Coulter Pharmaceutical Inc. (NasdaqNM:CLTR - news) and
SmithKline Beecham Plc(NYSE:SBH - news), was effective in 70 percent of patients, with 40 percent entering remission, according to researchers.
Both studies tested the drugs' effectiveness in around 50 patients with low-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma who had previously
been treated with Rituxan, a cloned antibody that targets and destroys B cells, a type of white blood cell affected by cancer in
lymphoma patients.
Non-Hodgkin's lymphomas are a group of related cancers that originate in the lymphatic system, which carries white blood
cells called lymphocytes throughout the body. An estimated 50,000 new cases are diagnosed in the United States each year,
with the elderly, organ transfer recipients and those infected with HIV at highest risk.
Shares of San Diego-based IDEC were up 13-1/8, or 8 percent, at 186-1/2 early on Nasdaq, while shares of Coulter, based in South San Francisco, Calif., were up 1/8 at $31-1/16.
Both Zevalin and Bexxar use cloned antibodies similar to Rituxan in combination with microradiation to deliver a greater, and
more closely targeted dose of radiation to tumor cells, while minimizing the amount of radiation affecting normal tissues.
Bexxar combines the immune system targeting agent with radiation therapy in the form of iodine-131. Zevalin is armed with a
different radioactive isotope, yttrium-90.
Side effects associated with both drugs include low white blood cell counts, which make a patient more susceptible to infection,
and low platelet counts, which can cause increased bleeding.
DRUGS HAVE SIDE EFFECTS
Zevalin, however, is particularly toxic to delicate bone marrow tissue, according to IDEC.
``Almost any type of radiation has the potential to damage bone marrow. We don't treat patients with Zevalin that have had
more than 25 percent of their bone marrow compromised,'' said Connie Matsui, senior vice president of planning and resource
development at IDEC.
Kari Nadeau, director of medical research at Coulter, said Bexxar is less toxic than Zevalin because yttrium is absorbed by
bone marrow where it interferes with the generation of new cells.
``Bexxar uses iodine that gets taken up by the kidneys,'' and is passed as urine she said.
Matsui at IDEC said, ``Our philosophy is that patients should receive Rituxan or chemotherapy plus Rituxan as first-line
therapy.''
IDEC currently co-markets Rituxan with Genentech Inc. (NYSE:DNA - news) as a treatment for patients with the low-grade
form of the disease who have failed to benefit from standard care like chemotherapy.
In a late-stage trial of Zevalin in 54 patients who had not responded to Rituxan, 74 percent of the patients experienced at a
least a 50-percent reduction in tumor size, while 15 percent went into remission, according to the study's leader Dr. Thomas
Witzig, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
But 35 percent of patients in this study experienced decreased white blood cell counts and 9 percent had decreased blood
platelets, he said.
``The complete response rate is high...but there are some toxicity concerns,'' said Gwen Fyfe, senior director of oncology at
Genentech. Drugs like Zevalin are most important for patients with relapsed disease, she said.
In a late-stage study of 40 patients previously treated with Rituxan, Bexxar reduced tumor size by more than half in 70 percent
of patients and 40 percent had no signs of the cancer, according to investigators.
``These patients can go into the hospital for two hours and receive a single dose of Bexxar. The duration of the response has been remarkable,'' said Coulter's Nadeau. Trial patients who achieved remission with Bexxar were disease-free for an average of 15 months and are still being monitored, she said.
IDEC filed last month with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval to sell Zevalin as a treatment for certain
types of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
After asking last year for additional data, the FDA agreed in September to a prioritized review of Bexxar as a treatment for
certain types of low-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
If approved, Bexxar would be Coulter's first commercial drug. |
