BOSTON -(Dow Jones)- Government scientists have finally been able to reproduce highly publicized results for the cancer treatment endostatin in mice and are now seeking to begin the first human tests, the Associated Press reported Thursday, quoting an article in the Boston Globe.
That could be good news for EntreMed Inc., whose shares lost nearly half their value Wednesday after Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said it was halting development of a related drug, angiostatin. Near midday Thursday, shares of EntreMed were up $2.438, or 19%, at $15.313.
Harvard scientist Judah Folkman gained world-wide attention last spring when the New York Times reported in a page one story on his findings that endostatin and angiostatin had shrunk tumors in rats. The drugs are called angiogenesis inhibitors and work by cutting off the blood supply to tumors.
EntreMed owns the rights to develop both angiostatin and endostatin - and had licensed angiostatin to Bristol-Myers.
Doubts about the compounds began to emerge several months ago. A number of prominent researchers, including collaborators at the National Cancer Institute, said they were unable to reproduce the lab results. Bristol-Myers cited some progress with angiostatin but indicated it was painfully slow. The company decided to pull out of direct involvement in developing the drug.
The breakthrough with endostatin reported Thursday came only when National Cancer Institute scientists conducted the experiment in the Children's Hospital laboratory of Folkman.
Folkman attributed the failure of endostatin last fall to the drug's sensitivity to handling, storage and the way it's administered. The National Cancer Institute, based in Frederick, Md., then sent researchers to Folkman's lab in November and December.
"This substantiates the idea that these are technical issues" that led to the failure at the NCI laboratory, Dr. Robert Wittes, deputy director of the institute, told the Globe. "Now we will move to facilities in Frederick and try to reproduce the results down here," he said.
The NCI also sent notices this week to medical centers around the country, inviting proposals for human tests to determine if endostatin, is safe, the newspaper said. Wittes couldn't estimate when tests on humans would start.
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