cancer patients Concluded a Phase IIa study and is planning a Phase IIb study, expected to start the second half of this year 5/29/13 CARDIOVASCULAR Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc. (South San Francisco) PRT4445 of Eliquis To reverse effects of apixaban, a Factor Xa inhibitor Coagulation Phase II data indicate that PRT4445 results in a rapid, sustained, dose-related reversal of anticoagulant activity of Eliquis 5/9/13 Zensun Sci and Tech Ltd. (Shanghai, China) Neucardin Recombinant peptide fragment

Researchers from the Center for Biomedical Genetics, the Netherlands Cancer Institute, investigated what was causing very limited response to Zelboraf in colon cancer patients with the same BRAF mutation in a Jan. 26, 2012, Nature article: "Mechanistically, we find that BRAF(V600E) inhibition causes a rapid feedback activation of EGFR, which supports continued proliferation in the presence of BRAF

As first shown by very long-term responses to Yervoy (ipilimumab, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.), immunotherapy offers metastatic cancer patients the best shot at what they really want: not a three-month or six-month increase in survival, but a chance to bore their grandchildren with war stories about their illnesses and how they survived

Puma Biotechnology Inc., of Los Angeles, began a Phase III trial of PB272 (neratinib) for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer patients who have failed two or more previous treatments

Researchers from the Center for Biomedical Genetics, the Netherlands Cancer Institute, investigated what was causing very limited response to Zelboraf in colon cancer patients with the same BRAF mutation in a Jan. 26, 2012, Nature article: "Mechanistically, we find that BRAF(V600E) inhibition causes a rapid feedback activation of EGFR, which supports continued proliferation in the presence of BRAF

That trial will be powered to show a six-week difference compared to active control in progression-free survival, and will begin in the fourth quarter, enrolling 400 BRCA-mutant breast cancer patients

GM-CSF was first recognized as a growth factor for white blood cells back in the late 1980s, and recombinant GM-CSF has long been used to treat neutropenia in cancer patients...Administration of the molecule to cancer patients who also had RA provided the first evidence of its pro-inflammatory function – the patients involved experienced disease flares

3SBio Inc., of Shenyang, China, said it completed its merger with Decade Sunshine Ltd., an exempted company with limited liability incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. The firm also requested that trading of its American depositary shares on Nasdaq be suspended, while it works to delist its registered securities. Addex Therapeutics SA, of Geneva, completed a previously announced restructuring, and Bharatt Chowrir stepped down effectively immediately as CEO and as director of

GM-CSF was first recognized as a growth factor for white blood cells back in the late 1980s, and recombinant GM-CSF has long been used to treat neutropenia in cancer patients...Administration of the molecule to cancer patients who also had RA provided the first evidence of its pro-inflammatory function – the patients involved experienced disease flares

For example, at a panel discussion on biosimilars and biologics at the ChinaBio Partnering Forum in Beijing last week, Michael Yu, president and CEO of Innovent Biologics Inc., of Suzhou, China, noted that Herceptin (trastuzumab, Roche AG) is even more expensive in China than in the U.S. And thus, it reaches about 4,000 patients in China, or only 1 percent of the 400,000 new breast cancer patients each year

GM-CSF was first recognized as a growth factor for white blood cells back in the late 1980s, and recombinant GM-CSF has long been used to treat neutropenia in cancer patients...Administration of the molecule to cancer patients who also had RA provided the first evidence of its pro-inflammatory function – the patients involved experienced disease flares

updated progress on its Phase I trial for anti-VEGF-C monoclonal antibody VGX-100 in advanced cancer patients

When kidney cancer patients are biopsied in one site, about 2 percent of them appear to have a p53 mutation...Colon cancer patients with KRAS mutations are resistant to EGFR-targeted drugs

Breast cancer patients, even those with metastatic disease, have more options than those with glioblastoma...Progression-free survival also has a greater impact on brain cancer than breast cancer patients, because in the cramped quarters of the brain, progressive disease almost always has immediate effects on cognitive and motor functions

The randomized, double-blinded Phase II trial evaluated the efficacy and safety of olaparib 400-mg twice-daily maintenance therapy compared with placebo in 265 platinum-sensitive, relapsed, high-grade serous ovarian cancer patients who had received two or more previous platinum regimens and who were in a partial or complete response following their last platinum-containing regimen...In the 28 gBRCA ovarian cancer patients, the RECIST response rate was 44 percent, or 11 of 25 evaluable patients

Soligenix Inc., of Princeton, N.J., said its SGX942 development program for the treatment of oral mucositis as a result of radiation and/or chemotherapy treatment in head and neck cancer patients has received FDA fast-track designation

So far, objective responses have been recorded in ovarian, breast and pancreatic cancer patients with germline BRCA mutations, with durable disease control in heavily pre-treated ovarian cancer patients across all dose levels, with a disease control rate of 89 percent (stable disease or better beyond 12 weeks after starting the study, in eight of nine ovarian cancer patients...The disease control rate for germline BRCA mutant ovarian cancer patients was 100 percent – all seven

That trial, which is being conducted under a special protocol assessment and set to enroll up to 722 patients, is designed to test the immunotherapy in combination with chemotherapy in pancreatic cancer patients who have undergone surgical resection...Data from an open-label study demonstrate the presence of existing immunological memory in advanced prostate cancer patients retreated with Provenge several years after initial treatment for androgen dependent prostate cancer in the Phase III PROTECT

Furthermore, our data provide preliminary evidence that thalidomide may prevent cardiotoxicity in sunitinib-treated cancer patients