Biotech Strategy Blog

Commentary on Science, Innovation & New Products

Posts tagged ‘Prostate Cancer Market’

AACR 2013 Posters offer Insights into Biotech Drug Development

By on April 15, 2013

In my final post from the 2013 annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), I wanted to share some more reflections from my time in the poster sessions. It’s certainly not all mice, and test tubes, and there were some interesting data from biotechnology companies to consider.

Sometimes the data presented is completely new, other times if you are following a product or company you can see the next stage of development and track progress. AACR posters are often not available if you don’t attend the meeting.

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What is the potential for galeterone in advanced prostate cancer?

By on March 6, 2013

Galeterone (Tokai Pharmaceuticals) is a new prostate cancer drug in development that has an interesting triple mechanism of action in that like abiraterone (Zytiga) it acts as a CYP17 lyase inhibitor, but it also acts as an androgen receptor (AR) inhibitor and is an AR degrading drug that decreases AR levels.

How effective it is compared to AR antagonists on the market such as enzalutamide (Medivation) or second-generation AR antagonists in development such as ARN-509 (Aragon Pharmaceuticals) or ODM-201 (Orion Pharma) is one of the many unanswered questions with this drug.

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Court rules Medivation has no IP rights to Aragon Pharmaceuticals ARN-509 $MDVN

By on January 3, 2013

Medivation investors hoping for a windfall will be disappointed to hear that on December 20, 2012 a California judge ruled the company had no rights to what is now known as Aragon Pharmaceuticals’ ARN-509, a next-generation androgen receptor (AR) antagonist for advanced prostate cancer, similar in chemical structure to enzalutamide (Xtandi).

Enzalutamide (formerly MDV3100) was developed in the UCLA laboratory of Drs. Charles Sawyers and Michael Jung and licensed by Medivation from the University of California. Medivation believed their licensing and sponsored research agreements gave them rights to any follow-on compounds. However, instead of giving Medivation first right of refusal, the University licensed what is now ARN-509 to Aragon Pharmaceuticals, a privately-held company whose owners include Sawyers and Jung.

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ESMO 2012: ODM-201 a new generation antiandrogen for advanced prostate cancer

By on September 18, 2012

One of the late-breaking abstracts (not yet published) that I am looking forward to at the forthcoming annual Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO 2012) in Vienna is on ODM-201 (Orion Pharma):

LBA25-PR:  ARADES trial: A first-in-man, open-label, phase I/II safety, pharmacokinetic, and proof-of-concept study of ODM-201 in patients (pts) with progressive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC)

ODM-201 is a new antiandrogen from Finnish company, Orion Pharma, and is being developed in partnership with Endo Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ENDP).

Orion Logo 300x136 ESMO 2012: ODM 201 a new generation antiandrogen for advanced prostate cancerIn a corporate presentation, Orion Pharma describe ODM-201 as:

  • Potentially best-in-class antiandrogen
This is a preview of ESMO 2012: ODM-201 a new generation antiandrogen for advanced prostate cancer. Read the full post

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Cabozantinib Prostate Cancer Bone Scans – Part 2 of an interview with Dr Maha Hussain

By on March 14, 2012

This is part 2 of my interview with Dr Maha Hussain, Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Michigan.  You can read part 1 about cabozantinib and pain here.

ASCO 2011 Cabozantinib Bone Scan Images 300x225 Cabozantinib Prostate Cancer Bone Scans Part 2 of an interview with Dr Maha Hussain

At the 2011 ASCO annual meeting, Dr Hussain presented data from a non-randomized phase 2 trial with cabozantinib that showed dramatic improvements in bone scans before and after treatment.

Bones are living tissues that are constantly being remade, a dynamic process that involves formation of new bone and taking up of old bone, a process known as bone resorption.  Cancer cells can interfere with bone remodeling, resulting in increased new bone formation (osteoblastic response) or excessive bone resorption (osteoclastic response).

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Cabozantinib & Pain in Prostate Cancer – an interview with Dr Maha Hussain

By on March 12, 2012

Maha Hussain MB ChB is Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Michigan.  She is an international expert into genitourinary malignancies with a focus on clinical research into prostate and bladder cancer.

ASCO 2011 Cabozantinib Presentation Title Slide 300x225 Cabozantinib & Pain in Prostate Cancer an interview with Dr Maha Hussain

Cabozantinib is a new drug in development by Exelixis for multiple indications.  It captured a lot of attention at the ASCO 2011 annual meeting last year, when Dr Hussain presented data from a phase 2 prostate cancer trial that showed a dramatic improvement in bone scans and pain reduction in those men receiving it.

This is a preview of Cabozantinib & Pain in Prostate Cancer – an interview with Dr Maha Hussain. Read the full post

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ASCO GU: radium-233 Alpharadin significantly prolongs time to first Skeletal Related Event

By on January 31, 2012

The abstracts for the forthcoming American Society of Clinical Oncology 2012 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium (ASCO GU) have been released and offer insight into some of the new data that will be presented at the meeting.

Algeta Alpharadin 223 ASCO GU: radium 233 Alpharadin significantly prolongs time to first Skeletal Related EventThe results of the phase III ALSYMPCA trial for radium-223 (Alpharadin) in prostate cancer were presented at ECCO/ESMO last September by Dr Chris Parker.

As expected, there is no change to data presented in Stockholm that showed radium-223 (Alpharadin) improves both Overall Survival and Skeletal Related Events:

radium-223 Overall Survival Benefit
median 14.0 vs 11.2 months; P value = 0.00185; HR = 0.695

This is a preview of ASCO GU: radium-233 Alpharadin significantly prolongs time to first Skeletal Related Event. Read the full post

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Preview of ASCO GU 2012 Prostate Cancer Data

By on January 20, 2012

San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge 300x225 Preview of ASCO GU 2012 Prostate Cancer DataAfter the recent JP Morgan Healthcare conference, San Francisco remains the destination of choice for forthcoming medical meetings.

Yesterday, saw the start of the 2012 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium (ASCO GI) at Moscone West from Jan 19-21.

In a few weeks time, the 2012 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium (ASCO GU) will be held at the San Franciso Marriott Marquis from Feb 2-4.

If you are based in San Francisco, you are at the heart of the action. It’s less optimal if you are East Coast based, unless you need the frequent flyer miles and have a good travel budget!

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Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium Prostate Cancer Update

By on November 11, 2011

Times Square NYC Veterans Day 2011 150x150 Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium Prostate Cancer UpdateThis morning the 8am session at the Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium (The Greenspan Meeting) in NYC featured a review of current developments in Prostate Cancer.

The informative 1.5 hour session covered a lot of ground with the presenters reviewing clinical data for:

  • Radium-223 Chloride: a new option for CRPC (Oliver Sartor)
  • Pomegranite extract for Rising PSA (Michael Carducci)
  • XL184 in mCRPC (David Smith)
  • Optimizing patient selection for sipuleucel-T (Simon Hall)
  • Intermittent androgen suppression for prostate cancer (Laurence Klotz)
  • Lenolidomide/docetaxel in CRPC (Daniel Petrylak)
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A year in review on Biotech Strategy Blog

By on October 26, 2011

Biotech Strategy Blog is 1 today!  I can’t believe that a year has gone by so quickly!  Before moving on to year 2, I thought a brief review might be interesting.

What have been the top posts on Biotech Strategy Blog this past year?

In terms of total visitors per post:

  1. Results from NEJM Lucentis v Avastin AMD CATT clinical trial
  2. AUA Results from PIVOT study show no benefit from radical prostatectomy in low risk early stage patients
  3. ASCO 2011 Cabozantinib (XL184) may be an exciting new prostate cancer drug
  4. Merck’s capthepsin-K inhibitor odanacatib in osteoporosis
This is a preview of A year in review on Biotech Strategy Blog. Read the full post

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