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Biotech / Medical : SRGN ( Seragen, Inc.) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: squetch who wrote (20)	11/10/1997 1:03:00 PM
From: John Covalesky	Respond to of 52

Bid and ask moved up today on srgn....first time i have seen it move in awhile.... JohnCov

To: squetch who wrote (20)	11/25/1997 5:58:00 AM
From: Henry Niman	Respond to of 52

Stan, Today the AP (and several news outlets) are describing a treatment for brain cancer involving dipteria toxin coupled to Transferin. Sounds like a SRGN trial (others include the toxin couple to IL-2 for CTCL or psoriasis, which I think is the LLY compound LGND is interested in, as well as DAB coupled to EGF for treating breast cancer). Do you know if it is?

To: squetch who wrote (20)	11/25/1997 6:06:00 AM
From: Henry Niman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 52

Here's the AP report: By Malcolm Ritter The Associated Press N E W Y O R K, Nov. 24 - An experimental treatment that tricks tumors into swallowing poison has shown promise in brain cancer patients. The therapy shrank tumors by at least half in nine of 15 patients. In one of those patients, the cancer disappeared for five months before recurring; in another, it was gone for nearly two years before returning. "We haven't cured anybody, and it's not likely we can at this point" because it's too early in the treatment's development, said Richard Youle of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. The small study, which was designed to look for side effects rather than test the treatment's effectiveness, is reported in the December issue of the journal Nature Medicine. In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Robert Martuza of the Georgetown University Medical Center called the result impressive but stressed that it must be confirmed by further work. Nearly all the cancers in the study originated in the brain, rather than migrating from elsewhere in the body. About 18,000 Americans are expected to get cancers arising in the brain this year; less than half will be of the types treated in the study. The patients had recurring, growing brain cancers that hadn't been cured by standard therapy. The experimental treatment took advantage of brain cancer's appetite for iron. To attract iron, tumor cells sprout chemical hitching posts that grab transferrin, a substance that shuttles iron in the brain. For the treatment, researchers yoked molecules of transferrin to molecules of diphtheria toxin. The toxin was altered so it would not harm normal cells, but it would still poison cancer cells that sucked it in with the transferrin. This transferrin-toxin combination was slowly pumped into the patients' brains, at or near the tumor, over several days. Most patients had several treatments. Three patients who took the highest dose experienced weakness on one side of the body. Two of them later regained some of their strength. A follow-up study is using a lower dose.