[extropy-chat] antiangiogenesis drug news

Damien Broderick thespike at earthlink.net
Wed Nov 26 23:29:58 UTC 2003


http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/26/business/26biotech.html

Avastin had failed to extend survival rates significantly in a small trial
of patients with colorectal cancer. That is a comedown from a previous,
larger trial that had such positive results that it was the talk of a
conference earlier this year.

Still, even in the new trial, Avastin did prolong survival by 29 percent...

Avastin could be the first drug to reach the market that works by inhibiting
the flow of blood to tumors, starving them of nutrients and oxygen.

The earlier trial involved 900 patients with colon cancer that had spread to
other parts of the body and were being treated with drugs for the first
time. Those who received Avastin along with existing chemotherapy drugs had
a median survival of 20.3 months, compared with 15.6 months for those who
received only the chemotherapy.

...

Avastin did prolong the time before tumors started growing again by 67
percent, a result that was statistically highly significant.




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