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To: Vector1 who wrote (7540)12/18/2002 4:04:40 PM
From: Sam Citron   of 40248
 
What proportion of pts are multiple chemo refractory?
What proportion of pts fail Rit?

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To: Vector1 who wrote (7538)12/18/2002 4:08:18 PM
From: Sam Citron   of 40248
 
All patients will eventually fail Chemo and Rit.

Please elaborate.

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To: Sam Citron who wrote (7542)12/18/2002 4:41:41 PM
From: Robohogs   of 40248
 
If you have followed ANY of these studies coming out (much less actual design etc.), you will quickly notice that for a large majority of cancers, the new medications prolong life but do not necessarily result in a cure. In one of MLNM's trials, some patients had failed 6 previous drug/treatment regimens. Now that is not to say that the drugs did not work (they delay progression of disease, result in temporary remission, etc.), but most are not the ultimate cure. They buy time.

Jon

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To: Vector1 who wrote (7538)12/18/2002 5:08:29 PM
From: ewolf   of 40248
 
I don't think you're missing anything. Bex market will be an evolving process. The drug has to prove itself with more usage. They're conducting trials to compare efficacy. The manufacturing has yet to be certified. It won't be on the market for at least five months. Still a case of what you believe will happen. I thought it would have dropped to the threes at least on turn down. I'm sure approval for marketing will add a more significant amount than today but it's anyone's guess what the price of the stock will be at that moment in time.

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To: Sam Citron who wrote (7542)12/18/2002 5:47:46 PM
From: Vector1   of 40248
 
Sam, low grade stage III and IV folicular NonHodgkins Lymphoma is incurable. All patients eventually die from the disease or conditions related to the treatment. The disease is asymptomatic until stage III so that is when it is usually discovered. Stage I and II can be cured with beam radiation in many cases. In Stage III and IV inital chemo is usually initally effective but the remissions generally last 1-4 years. When patietns are retreated on chemo the percentage achieving a response, and the duration of the response almost always go down. Most patients max out after the fourth or fifth regiment of chemo. Patients who have been through multiple chemo regimes which includes combo therapy develop a multitude of serious health problems including (without limitation)serious infection, impaired immune system, heart damage and Leukeymias. It is amazing these drugs were ever approved at all. In additon a percentage of patients will ultimately have their disease transform into high grade NHL which is a much more aggressive killer and generally non responsive to chemo at all. The median survival from initial diagnosis is 8 years. Median survival from confirmed transformation is around 1 year.

Rituxan has generated partial responses in around half of the refractory patients recieving the therapy. The responses last about 6 months on average. Rituxan has shown some promise in repeat use although there are a number of trials on going to establish Rit as a maintenance therapy. Most experts belelive all patients will ultimately fail on Rit as well. On the other hand Rit is relatively non toxic and easy to administer. When it first came out many docs did not want to use it until their patients failed chemo. The standard of care is changing and assuming the results continue to show the ability to retreat it is likely that Rit in firstline treatment will be the standard of care.

V1

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To: Vector1 who wrote (7538)12/18/2002 6:44:42 PM
From: dalroi   of 40248
 
V1

require coordination between an oncologist and a nuclear medicine specialist

dont think thats a problem they've to coordinate already lots of things like when to give chemo when to irradiate etc, shouldnt be a problem

cheers

S

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To: dalroi who wrote (7546)12/18/2002 9:39:19 PM
From: Vector1   of 40248
 
I hope so Stefaan, the following is an excerp from a Goldman Sachs report published today.


Although the potential launch of Bexxar in 1H2003 could raise the competition for Zevalin, we
believe that the increased promotion on radioimmunotherapy by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) could
expand the market. Some of the hurdles impeding rapid penetration of Zevalin have been the low
awareness among cancer doctors about the benefit of radioimmunotherapy and the logistical
barriers associated with nuclear medicine. GSK should help to overcome these hurdles, which are
not product specific. Therefore, we consider a positive outcome on the Bexxar review neutral to
IDEC.

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To: Vector1 who wrote (7545)12/19/2002 9:36:06 AM
From: Sam Citron   of 40248
 
v1, Jonathan,

Thank you both for helping me to understand this terrible disease and the limited treatment options that are available. I am gradually coming to to the belief that investors may be attracted to this space for reasons that may vary somewhat from the usual strict profit-making urge.

Sam

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To: Vector1 who wrote (7547)12/19/2002 10:01:11 AM
From: Biomaven   of 40248
 
V1,

Interesting comment from GS. Fits with the market's reaction - IDPH barely budged, whereas I thought it would be weak. Of course the report would have been a little more useful if they had published it before they saw the market's reaction. <g>

Very nice move by SEPR today.

Peter

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To: Biomaven who wrote (7549)12/19/2002 10:16:26 AM
From: quidditch   of 40248
 
Peter, actually GS did put out that assessment Tuesday morning, before the actions of the AC and any movement by IDPH or CRXA. The summary of its analysis was posted:

Message 18340397

quid

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