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

To: Sam Citron who wrote (7542)	12/18/2002 4:41:41 PM
From: Robohogs	Respond to of 52153

If you have followed ANY of these studies coming out (much less actual design etc.), you will quickly notice that for a large majority of cancers, the new medications prolong life but do not necessarily result in a cure. In one of MLNM's trials, some patients had failed 6 previous drug/treatment regimens. Now that is not to say that the drugs did not work (they delay progression of disease, result in temporary remission, etc.), but most are not the ultimate cure. They buy time. Jon

To: Sam Citron who wrote (7542)	12/18/2002 5:47:46 PM
From: Vector1	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 52153

Sam, low grade stage III and IV folicular NonHodgkins Lymphoma is incurable. All patients eventually die from the disease or conditions related to the treatment. The disease is asymptomatic until stage III so that is when it is usually discovered. Stage I and II can be cured with beam radiation in many cases. In Stage III and IV inital chemo is usually initally effective but the remissions generally last 1-4 years. When patietns are retreated on chemo the percentage achieving a response, and the duration of the response almost always go down. Most patients max out after the fourth or fifth regiment of chemo. Patients who have been through multiple chemo regimes which includes combo therapy develop a multitude of serious health problems including (without limitation)serious infection, impaired immune system, heart damage and Leukeymias. It is amazing these drugs were ever approved at all. In additon a percentage of patients will ultimately have their disease transform into high grade NHL which is a much more aggressive killer and generally non responsive to chemo at all. The median survival from initial diagnosis is 8 years. Median survival from confirmed transformation is around 1 year. Rituxan has generated partial responses in around half of the refractory patients recieving the therapy. The responses last about 6 months on average. Rituxan has shown some promise in repeat use although there are a number of trials on going to establish Rit as a maintenance therapy. Most experts belelive all patients will ultimately fail on Rit as well. On the other hand Rit is relatively non toxic and easy to administer. When it first came out many docs did not want to use it until their patients failed chemo. The standard of care is changing and assuming the results continue to show the ability to retreat it is likely that Rit in firstline treatment will be the standard of care. V1