Acute myelogenous leukemia is a fast-growing cancer of the blood and bone marrow.  Unformed cells called myeloblasts, or “blasts,” reside in the bone marrow and normally become a particular kind of cell – a white blood cell, red blood cell, or platelet.  In AML, abnormal blasts produce white blood cells that do not...
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Monoclonal antibodies, which have been approved for immunological, anti-infective, ophthalmic, cancer and other categories, represent one of the most successful therapeutic drug classes.  Ten monoclonal antibodies have been approved for cancer therapy alone, including three blockbuster products sold by the Roche Group (RHHBY) – Avastin® , Rituxan® , and Herceptin® that collectively represented...
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For more than a century, the American Association of Cancer Research has held its annual meeting and this weekend will kick off the 101st event in Washington, DC, which is being held April 17-21, 2010.  Many pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies will be presenting new data and approximately 6,300 abstracts will be discussed in...
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(Note: the following text is an Executive Summary from our new 150-page report titled “Cancer Vaccine Therapies: Failures and Future Opportunities”) Since the early 1990s, cancer immunotherapy has provided hope to patients, physicians, and investors as a new treatment modality with limited side effects and superior efficacy.  Cancer immunotherapy broadly includes passive immunization, active...
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In the United States, up to 50 million people live with chronic pain, with the majority of these patients not satisfied with their current pain treatments.  Pain is defined clinically as an unpleasant emotional experience resulting from real or potential tissue damage and is generally divided into two categories based on cause: Nociceptive pain,...
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Approximately 250 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with diabetes mellitus and that number is growing with the increasing obesity population.  Broadly, patients with diabetes are characterized by elevated blood glucose levels that result from either insufficient insulin secretion (type-1 diabetes) or ineffective insulin action (type-2 diabetes).  The market for treating patients with diabetes...
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In my prior article, I highlighted the “ASCO-effect,” which relates to the fact that biotechnology companies working in the field of cancer can experience double or triple-digit stock price increases from the end of April through the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting. Beyond the names previously mentioned, investors also appear to...
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