[EMAIL PROTECTED] (William J. Foristal) writes:
On Mon, 4 May 1998 20:14:53 -0400 (EDT) [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>[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
Isn't this an excellent example of the media showing the factual side of
this issue and not touting this as some miracle drug with immediate
applications to cancer treatment in humans?
Unfortunately, people suffering from cancer right now are justifiably
desperate and willing to try an experimental drug regardless of where it
is within the system of FDA required testing. I can understand their
feeling this way.
But I think it is pompous and ridiculous to label this as a very cruel
hoax.
Bill
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