Post subject: Cancer drug performs well in tests

A cancer drug being developed by the British biotechnology company Antisoma has shown promising results in reducing the size of tumours and stopping the progression of the disease.

It is some rare good news from Britain’s biotech sector, which has produced few noteworthy treatments. The data on the drug, dubbed AS1404, is from mid-stage trials and thus it has had fewer checks than those required to get approval. However, the firm said the results in lung cancer patients looked similar to those seen at a similar stage in Avastin, which proved to be successful at the later stages.

Among patients given the drug with chemotherapy, 43% showed some reduction in tumour size compared with 33% on chemotherapy alone. Only 9% of patients who took the drug showed an increase in the size of lesions in the lung whereas 33% of those just on chemotherapy did show progression.

The data comes from only two-thirds of the 71 people in the trial and the complete results will only be revealed in the first half of next year, when it will be decided as to whether the drug should start late-stage trials. These would be more testing because doctors would not know who was on the drug, whereas in the latest trial the doctors are aware and bias could be introduced. Glyn Edwards, Antisoma’s chief executive, said: “It is a drug that has the potential to treat a wide variety of different tumour types.”

The drug was originally licensed from New Zealand-based scientists but Antisoma has since struck a deal with the Swiss drugs firm Roche - the owner of Avastin and other successful cancer drugs - which is paying for its development.

If it goes on sale, Antisoma would get low double-digit royalties on the sales, and it would also be due a one-off payment of more than £10m if the drug enters late-stage clinical trials. The share price rose 2.75p yesterday to close at 22.25p.

Aaron

Post subject:

Antisoma is a biotechnology company specialising in the development of novel anti-cancer drugs. The Company was founded in 1988, and its shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange.

Antisoma has a diverse portfolio of products in development. We have three products which are being evaluated in clinical trials and three in preclinical development. Antisoma's products target tumours by several different mechanisms and are intended for the treatment of a range of cancers.

Focus on development

Antisoma believes that its core activities of preclinical and clinical development are the stages in the drug-development process that provide the most potential return to shareholders. We avoid the high risks associated with initial drug discovery. Our focus allows us to operate with a small core staff (around 61 including support staff), who design and manage clinical studies and manage the outsourcing of various specialised tasks such as trial monitoring, formulation, stability testing, product manufacture, and packaging, in addition to preclinical safety and toxicity studies. This 'semi-virtual' model allows us to maximise our operational flexibility while minimising our overheads.

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