Student Edition   Industry Edition  
 
Scientist: Biotechnology has potential to fight cancer

Developing cures for cancer and transforming cancer from a killer disease into a manageable chronic disease such as high blood pressure are unimaginable notions today, but the possibilities are real as biotechnology, still in its infancy, continues to unfold and change the face of cancer and other disease treatment, said Dr. Susan Desmond-Hellmann, president of product development for San Francisco-based Genentech, a leader in the biotechnology industry in the U.S.

"What we are trying to do is change medicine," Desmond-Hellmann said in her opening remarks to Forum Club members at a luncheon Friday at the Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club.

Founded in 1976 by a venture capitalist and biochemist, the company's 2010 goals are bringing at least 20 new products into the market and generating a $12 billion cash flow, she said. That is despite the research biotechnology business being steeped in unpredictability about whether a drug will be successful and a long lead time in the waiting.

"The success rate is one in four," she said. "So that means three of four of your investments fail."

One of those textbook-rewriting successes is Genentech's Herceptin, which was approved by the FDA in 1998 for treating breast cancer in women who carry the HER2 protein. Before Herceptin, women diagnosed with breast cancer who carry the HER2 gene could expect to live three years after diagnosis, she said.

"The first studies showed a five- to seven-month improvement, so we went back to the earliest stage of breast cancer, as soon as diagnosed," she said.

Genentech launched a new clinical trial of women in the early stages and put them on Herceptin. The trial found the drug had "completely transformed" the disease for many of the trial participants who were twice as likely not to have a recurrence of the disease, Desmond-Hellmann said.

Today, Genentech has four drugs on the market to extend cancer survivability and the firm is expanding its research and product development focus into immunology, for addressing diseases such as lupus and multiple sclerosis, and into tissue growth and repair, she said.

The biotech firm is waiting for FDA approval for Lucentis, for treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration. The drug inhibits new blood vessel growth and leakiness that lead to the wet form of macular degeneration.

The clinical trials have shown that recipients on average gain the ability to read 15 to 18 letters on the eye chart and 40 percent of the study participants were restored to 20/40 vision, what is needed to return to driving, she said.

"Maybe we will be able to change the course of what leads to blindness," she said.

 

(www.naplesnews.com)

 
Trends | Archives | Current News

© Amity Edumedia. All Rights Reserved.
Powered By AKC Data Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd.
Private Policy | Disclaimer