Look For Annoincements Next Week

New cancer strides to be unveiled at big meeting
June 01, 2004 7:41:00 PM ET

By Ransdell Pierson and William Borden

NEW YORK, June 1 (Reuters) - Oncologists will meet in New Orleans this Saturday to present advances in cancer treatments, including several new drugs that prolong life without the serious side effects of chemotherapy.

An estimated 25,000 oncologists from around the world will attend the four-day meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the largest annual clearinghouse of information for results from clinical trials involving experimental drugs and treatments already on the market.

The stakes are high for patients, as results of many studies will help determine whether drugs and drug combinations that may shrink tumors or extend life will move on to later-stage trials, or reach the market.

"This traditionally represents one of the most important meetings for the biotechnology sector," said Needham & Co. analyst Mark Monane, who expects more than 130 companies to make presentations.

Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. (MLNM) and Genentech Inc. (DNA), two U.S.-based biotechnology companies, have already said they will present data at the meeting showing their respective drugs for multiple myeloma and lung cancer extended lives of patients who were not helped by traditional therapies.

Millennium's drug, Velcade, and Genentech's Tarceva are among a new generation of medicines that work by targeting specific proteins that help tumor cells grow and flourish, without killing the body's healthy cells as chemotherapy agents do.

Genentech's Avastin, another targeted therapy, stole the limelight at last year's ASCO meeting, with data showing it prolonged life of colon cancer patients by an average of almost five months. The injectable drug, which helps prevent growth of blood vessels that feed tumors, won U.S. approval in February.

At this year's meeting, data showing Avastin's effectiveness against pancreatic cancer will be presented.

A mid-stage trial will examine whether Taxotere, a blockbuster Aventis drug used to treat advanced breast and lung cancer, is as effective or more effective than standard treatments for prostate cancer.

Several other drug makers are combining their cancer drugs with Taxotere in an attempt to hinder progression of cancers or improve survival.

The meeting will be important for GlaxoSmithKline as it presents Phase II data on its dual kinase inhibitor, known by the code 572016, which is viewed by analysts as among its most promising experimental drugs.

The product, which Glaxo hopes to market initially for breast cancer, blocks two biological switches involved in cancer growth that are inhibited separately by drugs such as AstraZeneca Plc's Iressa and Genentech's Herceptin.

Although the results are still early-stage -- Phase III data will not be available until next year -- progress is crucial for Glaxo to prove its much-touted pipeline is delivering.

Also in focus will be PTK 787, an experimental targeted therapy from Novartis and Germany's Schering AG which is currently in Phase II trials. The colon cancer drug works by the same mechanism as Avastin.

And ImClone Systems Inc. (IMCL), the biotech company at the center of the insider trading scandal that led to Martha Stewart's conviction for lying to investigators, will present data on new uses for its recently approved colon cancer drug Erbitux. (Additional reporting by Ben Hirschler in London) REUTERS

© 2004 Reuters