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Biotech / Medical : Ligand (LGND) Breakout! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cheryl Galt who wrote (28537)	3/17/1999 1:49:00 PM
From: Machaon	Respond to of 32384

<< Because of the long silence, I tend to guess that results against large human tumors have been disappointing. If statistically significantly many people with solid tumors were now alive -- or had their lives extended -- because of Panretin and Targretin, Ligand would have told us by now, imo. >> I've got another read on this issue. Since Ligand considers it's top priorities the approvals of niche markets for Targretin Capsules, such as CTCL, and Panretin Capsules, for KS; the results from the very small cancer trials are going to sit until Ligand has the funding for the larger Phase III trials, or decides to shoot for "off label" usage. Previous reports showed that Targretin caused stabilization of some forms of cancers, such as lung cancer, in some patients. <============================================================= From the 1997 10K: "Phase I/IIA interim trial results of Targretin Capsules were presented by Sloan-Kettering investigators at ASCO in May 1995. The Sloan-Kettering team reported on 33 patients with various cancers treated at oral daily doses up to 140 mg/m(2)/day. No dose limiting toxicities were reported in the study and investigators reported that the bioavailability of the drug is excellent. In April 1996, clinical investigators reported stabilization of disease in many of their patients with non-small cell lung cancer ("NSCLC"). Investigators from the Lombardi Cancer Center reported eight of 15 lung cancer patients with stable disease in excess of three months." =================================================================> Could this, or possibly more recent and similar trial results, be enough data to justify "off label" Targretin for Lung Cancer? If not, then I think that Ligand needs significant revenues to produce the large population trials to determine further efficacy. I'll be more confident after I read about NDA submissions for Targretin Capsules and Panretin Capsules, followed by "Orphan Status" for Targretin. OTOH, the other reason I posted this note is that Lake Ligand seems almost dead, lately, and I couldn't stand to see the day go by without another post! <g>