Bill Posted May 16, 2005 Share Posted May 16, 2005 8:21AM OSI Pharm provides clinical data on Tarceva (OSIP) 45.25 :Co provides data of EGFR mutation and gene amplification from the Tarceva registration study in non-small cell lung cancer The survival benefit from Tarceva therapy that was seen for essentially all sub-sets of patients in the BR.21 study was greater, although not significantly, for patients whose tumors expressed EGFR protein and for those patients whose tumors possessed an abnormally high copy number of the EGFR gene. Importantly, the study showed that patients whose tumors had mutations in their EGFR genes experienced no greater survival benefit than patients whose tumors expressed the non-mutated - or "wild-type" - form of the gene. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stand4hope Posted May 16, 2005 Share Posted May 16, 2005 Thank you, Bill, but could you or someone please explain what this means. Thanks a bunch! Peggy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patkid Posted May 16, 2005 Share Posted May 16, 2005 Bill, Please translate! Tarceva is under consideration for Brian's next defense. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted May 16, 2005 Author Share Posted May 16, 2005 IMO it's a mixed message. Sort of a disappointing one as it throws some cold water on the highly toted mutation theory for this group of drugs. But, IMO, what it really means is that you know about as much about these targeted tx drugs as the researchers do. They are rushing these drugs to market with some very preliminary data and very limited understanding and then just winging it. BTW, if you've been following the ASCO meeting you may have picked up on the new spin. Stand alone " targeted " tx is out ... " Multitasking " tx is in. Boy, that was quick ! If this spin sounds familiar it should. It's the same old multi-drug tx approach that we all are very familiar with. What these drug companies and their researchers are already doing is heavily promoting the use of these targeted tx winners in various drug combinations. Of course, Wall Street is pushing this approach full-throttle in order to expand the oncology market and pharmas' bottom line. Let's hope that some real therapeutic benefits can be derived from utilizing these newer targeted tx drugs in a " multitasking " tx setting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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