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

To: Icebrg who wrote (8397)	5/19/2003 4:20:41 AM
From: Icebrg	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 52153

Anti-angiogenesis Some interesting aspects on today's news on what appears to have been a very successful study of Avastin. The folks at Genentech's PR department are not shy this time: "The magnitude of the benefit observed far exceeded what the study was designed to demonstrate." "These data strongly suggest that inhibiting VEGF -- a growth factor first cloned by Genentech scientists -- results in clinical benefit for colorectal cancer patients and has the potential to change the practice of treating cancer." "This study also provides the first Phase III clinical validation of the long-pursued 'anti-angiogenic' hypothesis -- that by targeting a tumor's blood supply, you may impact its viability". This should in principle be very good for all the companies who are working on anti-angiogenic agents. The principle has been established. A principle many (including myself) was somewhat suspicious about. Now it is "just" up to the various companies to show that their molecules are up to their stuff. On the other hand. Genentech talking about benefits that far exceeded what their study set out to demonstrate, seem to indicate that the bar for further approvals has just been raised. To gain approval new cancer drug candidates of all types will most probably in the future have to be able to induce larger improvements than what so far has been the case. Erik