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More phase III cancer trials flop: Pfizer (Sutent) and Roche (Avastin)

Mar 12, 2010 5:37am

The last 18 months have seen a lot of failed cancer studies in phase III development after early promising phase II results, teaching us that sometimes rushing full steam ahead without fully understanding the issues is not always the smartest......

BioSante announce positive data from GVAX leukemia vaccine in CML

Mar 11, 2010 6:50am

This morning the newswires (HT Mike Huckman) are full of the BioSante (formerly Cell Genesys) news on their leukemia vaccine, GVAX, which is being tested to see whether it is a viable approach for eradication of minimal residual disease. Accordingly,......

Abbott makes some waves in Pharma

Mar 10, 2010 5:13am

While listening to last week's presentation by BMS on their pipeline, one slide in particular caught my attention: Source: BMS Now, it wasn't the fact that BMS were second in their table of Total Shareholder Return (TSR) that was interesting......

Data dumps are information overload, not insights

Mar 9, 2010 5:30am

"I made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter." Pascal, Provincial Letters XVI, 1660 One of the things that used to drive me absolutely potty as a marketing director was reports masquerading as......

Roche's ocrelizumab and AstraZeneca's cediranib bite the dust

Mar 8, 2010 5:24am

This week kicked off with some interesting emails and alerts in my inbox. You may well be wondering what on earth rheumatoid arthritis and colorectal cancer have in common. The answer is that yet more agents in development have bitten......

What can we learn from the Oscars?

Mar 8, 2010 4:14am

Last night many people in the NY-NJ-CT region missed the Oscars beamed from the Academy Awards after an argument over money between CableVision and ABC. If a Biotech company and their big Pharma partner has a spat, it is rarely......

Sharpen the saw!

Mar 7, 2010 1:26pm

Today I took some time out for rest and relaxation as it was a gorgeous Spring afternoon in New York City. Walking from the World Trade Center, up the West Side Highway and then along the Highline between W12th and......

Ipilimumab from BMS looks like an interesting new melanoma drug

Mar 5, 2010 2:16pm

It's been a frantic week on the work front and today was no different, but I wanted to highlight a really interesting slide from the BMS pipeline presentation yesterday afternoon. Here's one of the slides Elliot Sigal, President of R&D,......

What price end of life cancer care?

Mar 4, 2010 5:44am

"After Terence died, Flaherty drew me a picture of a bell curve, showing the range of survival times for kidney cancer sufferers. Terence was way off in the tail on the right-hand side, an indication he had indeed beaten the......

Why do some Pharma companies do well in oncology and other's don't?

Mar 3, 2010 5:59am

A chance email yesterday from Matthew Herper of Forbes Health got me thinking. He was interested in whether a company, who have been successful in other therapeutic areas, could do well in cancer. A question like that can quietly sit......

Merck and Schering Plough's new robust pipeline

Mar 2, 2010 5:36am

"Merck's newly integrated pipeline follows a comprehensive prioritization process that closely examined all compounds in development at both companies prior to the merger. Candidates were prioritized based on a series of criteria, including potential for impact on human health, molecular......

Astellas launches hostile $3.5-billion offer to acquire OSI

Mar 1, 2010 9:30am

"Astellas announced Monday that it has made an unsolicited offer to acquire all outstanding shares of OSI Pharmaceuticals in a deal worth $3.5 billion. The Japanese company's CEO Masafumi Nogimori said that the "offer follows attempts over the past 13......

Doctors' Medicare refunds may drop 20 percent Monday

Feb 28, 2010 4:22pm

With Medicare reimbursement rates to physicians set to drop by more than 20 percent Monday, Vicksburg physician Randy Easterling, president of the Mississippi State Medical Association, is warning that elderly patients could find themselves with no doctor able to afford......

Making things happen in Pharma land

Feb 26, 2010 4:52am

With over a foot of snow overnight, Pharmaland is likely to be having another snow day in the New Jersey metro area. That's a good thing because not only will people be safe and sound off the roads in the......

Roche on a roll with positive data for Avastin in ovarian cancer

Feb 25, 2010 11:24am

After yesterday's news regarding the negative data for bevacizumab (Avastin) in gastric cancer, I wasn't expecting to hear any more from Roche this week, however, the opposite happened and this morning positive data was sitting waiting for me in my......