[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>moonshine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>>
>> Seems to me the doctors on this list might have something to say.
>>
>> The purported cancer cure ain't. Not yet anyway.
>
>Evenin', No one stated it is a cure. The doctor herself has been working
with these two
>drugs
>for over a decade and through her research found positive results in the
lab. Nowhere does
>she state she has found a cure. Your subject title is way off base and not
supported by
>the facts. The real hoax, IMO, is your attempt to appear to a have grasp on
reality and
>fact.
>...Mac
Uh huh. If you have a mouse with cancer, Mac, you are in luck. If you are
a human with cancer you better hold on for a while.
One of the people that used the c-word was you, Mac.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Doctors warn against euphoria on cancer drugs
03:55 p.m May 04, 1998 Eastern
By Maggie Fox
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Doctors said Monday they were excited about a
new way to attack cancer but warned against premature euphoria over drugs that
may not work in people.
The two drugs, angiostatin and endostatin, have completely wiped out tumors in
mice. A feature story about the work published in the New York Times Sunday
sent stock in EntreMed Inc., which has rights to the drugs, soaring. Shares in
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., which has an agreement with EntreMed, also shot up.
``The data are very impressive and compelling. But it is still mouse data.
We need clinical data in humans before we can anoint them as miracle
drugs,'' said Dr. Jim Pluda, an oncologist at the National Cancer Institute
(NCI) who is overseeing research in this area.
``There have been a number of compounds in the past that have cured mice and
did not translate into efficacy in human clinical trials. The field of
oncology is littered with the bodies of agents that were the next cure for
cancer.''
EntreMed Chief Financial Officer Nelson Campbell agreed, and declined to use
the word ``cure.'' ``We're in preclinical studies and the proteins are not
in humans yet. We do not use the 'c-word','' he said.
He said it would be at least a year before the drug combination was tested in
humans.
Nonetheless the NCI has made their development a top priority. The drugs work
to stop the growth of blood vessels that tumors need to grow and flourish. This
process of growing arteries is called angiogenesis, so the drugs are known as
angiogenesis inhibitors, or anti-angiogenesis drugs.
Pluda compared the approach to trying to eliminate dandelions from a lawn.
``Normally we keep whacking off the top and the dandelion keeps growing back,''
he said in a telephone interview. ``But if you kill the roots of the
dandelion, the whole plant dies. We are killing the mechanism by which the
tumor cells get
nutrition.''
There are few side-effects, unlike the standard treatments that use toxic
drugs or X-rays.
The drugs are naturally occurring agents. ``Angiostatin is actually a
portion of a normal circulating blood product called plasminogen. Endostatin
is a small
fragment of a type of collagen called collagen 18 that is normally found in
the body but localized around blood vessel cells,'' Pluda said.
The two-drug approach was first reported in the science journal Nature in
November 1997. It was developed by Dr. Judah Folkman, of Children's Hospital
and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts.
But even Folkman remains cautious.
'`If you have cancer and you are a mouse, we can take care of you,'' he told the
New York Times. And he said it could be years before the drugs are ready to be
tested in humans. The drugs may not be suitable for use in children or
pregnant women. Angiogenesis is very important for the growth of unborn
babies and children. ``That is an issue,'' Pluda said.
Stocks in Rockville, Maryland-based EntreMed more than quadrupled in value on
Monday. In early afternoon trading the stock the stock was up around 46 15/16
at 59 compared with Friday's close at 12 1/16.
EntreMed is working with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. to develop angiostatin.
Options on Bristol-Myers also were active as the stock rallied to a new record
high, but prices later settled back to around 110 at midday.Campbell said
the extraordinary rise was due to the market catching up on news about the
drugs. ``This is valid recognition of some outstanding data,'' Campbell
said in a telephone interview. ``But this is not necessarily new data, so
it's the market playing catch-up.''
Campbell said EntreMed is in talks with ``several other major pharmaceutical
companies'' for a deal to develop endostatin.
Best, Terry
"Lawyer - one trained to circumvent the law" - The Devil's Dictionary
Subscribe/Unsubscribe, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
In the body of the message enter: subscribe/unsubscribe law-issues
