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Biotech / Medical : Pharmacyclics (PCYC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: scaram(o)uche who wrote (659)	12/14/2001 3:08:48 PM
From: Biomaven	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 717

These trial results actually leave open the possibility that the drug works to some extent. Apparently the Kaplan-Meier survival curves for the lung cancer patients hug each other for the first 3-4 months and then steadily diverge. So one explanation for the results is that the sickest patients die no matter what you do to their brain mets, and this statistically swamps the positive effects you see in the patients that survive the initial months. It doesn't explain why you only see this effect in the lung cancer patients (which were the biggest sub-group by far). There really are two different unknowns being tested here - "does Xcytrin enhance radiation?" and "does enhancing the treatment of brain mets significantly prolong life in this patient group?" If the answer to the latter is negative, then this has implications for some of ALTH's trials as well. Personally I would guess that this Xcytrin indication (brain mets) is dead. Conceivably Xcytrin might behave differently in the GBM trials. Peter P.S. The drug was given before the radiation, so the "analyst" you reported on should definitely seek other employment. <g>