Cancer Drugs Use Body's Own Defenses

By Peter Geschek:Even with the best cancer drugs, doctors are forced to switch from one therapy to the next as the tumors rapidly develop resistance.A new wave of immunotherapy drugs, in the spotlight of the upcoming ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) meeting, promises to produce longer-lasting remissions.

Prohost Biotech submits:One year ago, an anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitor called crizotinib developed by Pfizer (PFE) for non-small-cell lung cancer demonstrated it shrank the tumors in most of the 82 patients after two months of treatment.

By Investment Directions: We had great news today (Thursday), but the response was tepid. Rather than being disappointed or dismissing the news, here is why we should be excited at both the developments and the investment potential it opens up.

By Stephen Simpson:Investors should know in about three to six months if Vical's (VICL) Allovectin has the clinical credentials to get FDA approval for treating advanced melanoma.

By Ohad Hammer:Below is a list of drugs and companies which will have meaningful data at this year's annual meeting of American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). As I will be attending this year's conference, I will try to write updates on a regular basis. Feel free to send me questions or post them as comments to this post. PD1 antibodies - the next big thing in oncology

The US Food and Drug Administration said Monday it had approved a drug currently used in patients with advanced kidney cancer to treat brain tumors caused by a rare genetic disease.Everolimus, which is marketed under the name Afinitor by Novartis, was approved to treat tumors caused by the genetic condition tuberous sclerosis that cannot be treated with surgery, the FDA said in a statement.Tuberous sclerosis causes slow-growing non-cancerous tumors called subependymal giant cell astrocytoma (SEGA) in the brain and other parts of the body.

The side effects John-Peter Bradford endured four years ago as he underwent radiation therapy and surgery for throat cancer were, he says, “barbaric.” Still, the potent treatment worked, eradicating the tumour and saving his life. As his family confronts the shock of another, more advanced malignancy today, however, the Ottawa management consultant is agonizingly aware that many cancers remain incurable, despite 40 years of hugely expensive research into the disease and how to treat it.

Ohad Hammer submits:The hottest theme at this year’s 2010 ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) annual meeting was without a doubt cancer immunotherapy, an old paradigm that deals with redirecting the patient’s immune system against tumors. After decades of failures, this concept is finally proving itself useful.