Interesting article out of The Brookings Register in South Dakota.
Researchers at South Dakota State University "...are investigating whether "stressing" cancer cells can make cancer radiation treatment and chemotherapy more effective. "
According to the article...
"Professor Xiangming Guan of SDSU's Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences explained that when cancer cells are tired out, they are easier to kill using free radicals, the basic mechanism behind radiation and some chemotherapy drugs."
Guan goes on to explain....
"We have also demonstrated that the stressed cancer was more sensitive to radiation treatment in several different human cancer cells such as ovarian cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, and skin cancer ."
Interesting idea....and it makes intuitive sense. We all know that a stressed organism is more susceptible to illness. It only makes sense that this principle would apply at the cellular level. Except in this case scientists would be applying this principle to make 'stressed' cancer cells 'sick'.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Additional Information on Peyronie's Disease
Just a follow-up to my last post......
I have had the good fortune to have been communicating with Stan Hardin who is the head of The
Association of Peyronie's Disease Advocates. Stan reached out to me after I had written a post that was questioning Pfizer's decision to partner with Auxilium to develop a drug for Peyronie's Disease.
Stan took the time to provide additional information about not only the physical aspects of the disease, but he addressed the serious emotional issues that men afflicted with this disease have to deal with. Additionally Stan pointed out that up to 9% of men are afflicted with the disease.
You can read more about both Peyronie's Disease and Stan's organization at their website here.
The site is extremely well done and informative.
And best of luck to both Pfizer and Auxilium in their quest for a cure.
I have had the good fortune to have been communicating with Stan Hardin who is the head of The
Association of Peyronie's Disease Advocates. Stan reached out to me after I had written a post that was questioning Pfizer's decision to partner with Auxilium to develop a drug for Peyronie's Disease.
Stan took the time to provide additional information about not only the physical aspects of the disease, but he addressed the serious emotional issues that men afflicted with this disease have to deal with. Additionally Stan pointed out that up to 9% of men are afflicted with the disease.
You can read more about both Peyronie's Disease and Stan's organization at their website here.
The site is extremely well done and informative.
And best of luck to both Pfizer and Auxilium in their quest for a cure.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Update re: Pfizer and Peyronie's Disease
Well...I stand corrected.
In my last post I discussed Pfizer and Auxilium's drug development agreement for a drug to target Peyronie's Disease.
And in my post, I was somewhat critical of Pfizer's decision.
However, a reader was able to provide me with additional information re: Peyronie's Disease. It turns out that that the number of men suffering from Peyronie's Disease is not 1-4%, The percentage of men afflicted by the diesease is 9%.
You can see a brief article about the disease here.
But, equally as important, the reader's discussed some of the emotional issues that men suffering from this disease face. He made me realize how devasting this disease can be to men who are afflicted by it.
Bottom line.....
Pfizer and Auxilium are working to find a cure for a disease that, if they are successful, will not be a blockbuster. To use a baseball analogy, it will probably be a 'single', not a 'home run'. Nevertheless this drug will improve the lives and health of a significant percentage of people. And, when it comes down to it, improving the lives and health of people is the real purpose of the Pharmaceutical Industry.
In my last post I discussed Pfizer and Auxilium's drug development agreement for a drug to target Peyronie's Disease.
And in my post, I was somewhat critical of Pfizer's decision.
However, a reader was able to provide me with additional information re: Peyronie's Disease. It turns out that that the number of men suffering from Peyronie's Disease is not 1-4%, The percentage of men afflicted by the diesease is 9%.
You can see a brief article about the disease here.
But, equally as important, the reader's discussed some of the emotional issues that men suffering from this disease face. He made me realize how devasting this disease can be to men who are afflicted by it.
Bottom line.....
Pfizer and Auxilium are working to find a cure for a disease that, if they are successful, will not be a blockbuster. To use a baseball analogy, it will probably be a 'single', not a 'home run'. Nevertheless this drug will improve the lives and health of a significant percentage of people. And, when it comes down to it, improving the lives and health of people is the real purpose of the Pharmaceutical Industry.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
How Will Pfizer Spend Their Cash?
Mike Huckman of CNBC reported earlier this week here that Pfizer's streak raising dividends ended after 40 years. What does this signify for Pfizer?
Huckman reports that Miller Tabak, healthcare analyst Les Funtleyder, feels that -
"The dividend is still above seven percent which makes the company seem almost distressed." Yet, the cash hoard could turn out to be a major advantage. Funtleyder continues by writing..."longer the cost of capital stays high, the more cash on a balance sheet becomes a competitive advantage. Should we be in for a prolonged lull in the capital raising cycle, PFE may be able to buy its way out of some of its pipeline deficiency."
So say Pfizer is looking to 'buy its way out of some of its pipeline deficiency'. That could be a viable strategy. So what type of deals would they look to strike? What type of cutting edge drugs would they deem worthy to invest in? How would Pfizer strategically spend their cash?
Late this week we got an answer. Pfizer signed a drug development partnership with Auxilium Pharmaceuticals and is paying $75 million up and and up to $410 million over time if additional milestones are met. But as Huckman writes....this is not your "typical" drug partnership -
"So what makes this so unusual? Well, it's the drug AUXL is developing. It's a two-in-one for a rare disease that causes fingers to curl toward the palm and--and, no, I'm not making this up and it's not a joke--for penises that curve. The "problem" is called Peyronie's disease and it reportedly affects one to four percent of men. I'd never heard of Peyronie's until I read the press release."
I don't know about you...but if I still owned Pfizer stock...I think I would rather that they just gave me the dividend.
Huckman reports that Miller Tabak, healthcare analyst Les Funtleyder, feels that -
"The dividend is still above seven percent which makes the company seem almost distressed." Yet, the cash hoard could turn out to be a major advantage. Funtleyder continues by writing..."longer the cost of capital stays high, the more cash on a balance sheet becomes a competitive advantage. Should we be in for a prolonged lull in the capital raising cycle, PFE may be able to buy its way out of some of its pipeline deficiency."
So say Pfizer is looking to 'buy its way out of some of its pipeline deficiency'. That could be a viable strategy. So what type of deals would they look to strike? What type of cutting edge drugs would they deem worthy to invest in? How would Pfizer strategically spend their cash?
Late this week we got an answer. Pfizer signed a drug development partnership with Auxilium Pharmaceuticals and is paying $75 million up and and up to $410 million over time if additional milestones are met. But as Huckman writes....this is not your "typical" drug partnership -
"So what makes this so unusual? Well, it's the drug AUXL is developing. It's a two-in-one for a rare disease that causes fingers to curl toward the palm and--and, no, I'm not making this up and it's not a joke--for penises that curve. The "problem" is called Peyronie's disease and it reportedly affects one to four percent of men. I'd never heard of Peyronie's until I read the press release."
I don't know about you...but if I still owned Pfizer stock...I think I would rather that they just gave me the dividend.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Big Pharma not a Threat to Biotech yet
Interesting article here at The Street.com.
As Adam Feuerstein writes:
A whole host of things have to go right before drugmakers like Merck(MRK Quote - Cramer on MRK - Stock Picks) or Novartis(NVS Quote - Cramer on NVS - Stock Picks) can compete in the biotech arena.
So the Biotech industry has no reason to fear Big Pharma....at least not just yet.
As Adam Feuerstein writes:
A whole host of things have to go right before drugmakers like Merck(MRK Quote - Cramer on MRK - Stock Picks) or Novartis(NVS Quote - Cramer on NVS - Stock Picks) can compete in the biotech arena.
So the Biotech industry has no reason to fear Big Pharma....at least not just yet.
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Merck and Generic Biotech Drugs
Merck has announced that it is creating a new division to sell Generic Biotech drugs.
Generic Biotech Drugs are appealing to Big Pharma because the cost to develop and manufacture these types of products are projected to be significantly less than developing a new Drug Compound. However, the revenue from Biotech Generics will be significantly higher than from traditional small molecule Generics. The math is simple...Lower Cost + Higher Revenue = More Profits.
And Merck may have a leg up on their competition in the Biotech Generics arena.
According to the article in Forbes:
"Merck has a killer app when it comes to making copycat proteins (see "Needle Work"). In 2006 it dropped $400 million on privately held GlycoFi to get its hands on a technology that can produce biotech drugs cheaply in yeast, instead of in complex and finicky mammalian cells. Merck wanted the tools for its own drug development. But one of GlycoFi's proofs of concept was a scientific paper showing its method could be used to create a copy of Amgen's Epogen. The paper was published in Science in September 2006. Merck will file a copycat Epogen with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2012."
Generic Biotech Drugs are appealing to Big Pharma because the cost to develop and manufacture these types of products are projected to be significantly less than developing a new Drug Compound. However, the revenue from Biotech Generics will be significantly higher than from traditional small molecule Generics. The math is simple...Lower Cost + Higher Revenue = More Profits.
And Merck may have a leg up on their competition in the Biotech Generics arena.
According to the article in Forbes:
"Merck has a killer app when it comes to making copycat proteins (see "Needle Work"). In 2006 it dropped $400 million on privately held GlycoFi to get its hands on a technology that can produce biotech drugs cheaply in yeast, instead of in complex and finicky mammalian cells. Merck wanted the tools for its own drug development. But one of GlycoFi's proofs of concept was a scientific paper showing its method could be used to create a copy of Amgen's Epogen. The paper was published in Science in September 2006. Merck will file a copycat Epogen with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2012."
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