Biotech Strategy Blog

Commentary on Science, Innovation & New Products with a focus on Oncology, Hematology & Immunotherapy

Posts tagged ‘rheumatoid arthritis’

Choices, choices…

During the ongoing American College of Rheumatology (ACR24) conference held in Washington DC, there has been a wide choice of potential new treatments being investigated in refractory autoimmune diseases with several products from the oncology space.

These include bispecific T cell engagers, ex vivo and in vivo CAR-Ts, CAR-NKs, TCRs, and even ADCs.

There’s always more than one way to skin a cat – yet do they all look the same or even produce similar results?

In our latest in-depth look at the emerging preclinical and clinical data, we highlight quite a few red and green flags to watch out for in Part 1 of our ACR coverage…

To continue reading our latest highlights on oncology new product development including commentary and analysis BSB subscribers can log-in or you can click to access the content.

This content is restricted to subscribers

How do we go about distinguishing one therapy from another in an emerging niche?

It’s been fascinating to see many companies in the IO space trying to pivot from oncology to autoimmune disease, regardless of whether they have a CD19 or CD20 T cell bispecific or CAR-T cell therapy.

Someone presents some initial evidence of activity and suddenly, Bingo!  Everyone else rushes to try it out too.

It reminds me of those old medical jars at apothecaries in the 1700-1800s, like the one in Imola (right), which still stands today.

How do we pick out one from another though?

The obvious answer is… it depends.  On the data collected by disease setting, the line of therapy, disease burden, and so on.

This is going to take some time to gather before the dust settles.

In our latest review we chose eight different approaches and put them through their paces for a careful look at the evidence.

Did anything stand out?  Yes, it did…

To learn more from our latest oncology review and get a heads up on key cancer research insights, subscribers can log-in or you can click to gain access to BSB Premium Content.

This content is restricted to subscribers

In part two of our mini-series on tulip mania in Pharmaland, where oncology companies are switching their attention and focus from one niche to another, we take a look at how perceptions can change with time.

What looks a wide open landscape may not be all it first appears

Sometimes though, what initially looks like a less crowded space than the original one may rapidly turn out to be quite different than supposed in a very short space of time.

The moral of the story is be careful what you wish for because choosing wisely is just as important as executing, as we learn in this exercise…

To learn more from our latest oncology review and get a heads up on key cancer research insights, subscribers can log-in or you can click to gain access to BSB Premium Content.

This content is restricted to subscribers

Following on from yesterday’s news that Gilead had acquired Calistoga and CAL-101, another company that is exploring the interface between cancer and inflammation is Paris based AB Science.

Pharma Strategy Blog has an excellent interview with the CEO, Alain Moussy.  AB Science is an emerging French biopharmaceutical company, and I previously wrote about its IPO.

The company has adopted a unique market entry strategy of obtaining approval first in animal health for their tyrosine kinase inhibitor, masitinib.  In 2008, AB Science gained European approval for canine mast cell tumors and in December 2010 FDA approval.

The company recently announced that on February 8, 2011 it had its first US sale of masitinib to vets.

Masitinib is in fact a multi-kinase inhibitor that inhibits wild type and mutant forms of stem cell factor receptor (c-KIT, SCFR), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGFR), fibroblast growth factor 3 (FGFR3) and to a lesser degree, focal adhesion kinase (FAK).

Sally Church on the Pharma Strategy Blog has written about how AB Science’s strategy makes sense – if you look at Pfizer, they obtain more revenue from animal health than they do from oncology.  AB Sciences’ Masivet® in Europe, Kinavet® in the United States competes against Pfizer animal health’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor, Palladia® (toceranib), which also targets mast cell cancer in dogs.

Not only does this growth strategy generate revenue for an early-stage company like AB Science, it also allows the company to build a sales and marketing infrastructure in the United States and Europe while waiting for the results of pivotal phase 3 studies in humans.

The phase 2 clinical trial data for masitinib in combination with gemcitabine in pancreatic cancer were impressive (28% survival at 18 months).  The phase 3 clinical trial results are expected this year.  The clintrials.gov listing shows the date for the estimated primary completion date (Overall Survival) as November 2010 with study completion in November 2011.  Obviously the exact timing depends on how fast subjects were accrued, but I would be surprised if we didn’t see some data presented at ASCO or ESMO, especially if positive.

In terms of targeting inflammation, masitinib is in phase III development for mastocytosis, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and asthma.  AB Science announced on January 27, 2011 the first patient recruited into their phase 3 study in severe asthma.

The company’s new product development strategy is way ahead of many of its competitors in identifying the links between cancer and inflammation, and choosing to target market opportunities in both areas.

AB Science is an exciting company to watch, and I expect that we will see important new data come out at major scientific meetings this year.

error: Content is protected !!