Posts tagged ‘PLX4032’

Preview of ASCO 2011 Annual Meeting #ASCO11

May 31st, 2011

Daedalus

3013235262 8f75c04656 300x133 Preview of ASCO 2011 Annual Meeting #ASCO11

Photo Credit: Nimesh Madhaven

This Friday sees the start of the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago. The meeting runs from June 3-7.

On Pharma Strategy Blog, Sally Church shares her thoughts on what she expects to be hot news at ASCO this year.

In her ASCO11 video preview Sally discusses clinical trial presentations in ovarian cancer, metastatic melanoma and soft tissue sarcoma. You can watch Sally’s video below and read more on Pharma Strategy Blog.

Icarus Consultants will be attending ASCO (along with 30,000 others), so if you are interested in meeting up, please contact us.

How resistance occurs to BRAF inhibitors such as PLX 4032 (vemurafenib)

May 13th, 2011

Daedalus

Icarus Consultants’ oncology expert, Sally Church has written extensively about BRAF inhibitors, and why melanoma patients develop resistance to PLX4032.

In a post on Pharma Strategy Blog, Sally reviews further research on mechanisms of resistance to BRAF inhibitors such as PLX 4032 (vemurafenib). Published in OncoTarget (an open access cancer journal), the article describes ERK dependent and ERK independent methods by which resistance occurs.

Sally notes that “as our knowledge of the science of metastatic melanoma improves, so do our opportunities for therapeutic intervention and improvement in outcomes.”

Metastatic melanoma is expected to be a hot topic at the forthcoming annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) that Icarus Consultants will be attending.

You can read more on Pharma Strategy Blog.

Understanding why melanoma patients develop resistance to PLX4032

April 25th, 2011

Daedalus

Targeted therapies for metastatic melanoma such as PLX4032 (vemurafenib) have shown dramatic effects in patients. However, resistance to BRAF inhibitors such as PLX4032 soon develops. The result is a need to understand how resistance occurs due to cross talk and how to overcome this through a rational drug combination strategy.

Sally Church on Pharma Strategy Blog delves into the topic of BRAF resistance with demonstrable enthusiasm. In her insightful post she discusses data presented in the plenary session at the recent annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) by Levi Garraway from Dana Farber.

As Sally discusses in some detail, the research identified a novel mutation in the downstream kinase MEK1 that may be the reason why patients become resistant to PLX4032.

You can watch Dr Garraway’s presentation as a free AACR webcast and can read more about the important implications of this research for melanoma new product development on Pharma Strategy blog.

Insights into BRAF resistance in melanoma lead to potential new drug targets

April 19th, 2011

Daedalus

Melanoma is a common form of skin cancer in which 60% of patients have the V600E mutation of the serine/threonine kinase B-RAF (BRAF)

Melanomas with a V600E BRAF mutation are dependent on mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and have been shown to respond to inhibition of the RAF and MEK signaling pathway.

PLX4032 (vemurafenib) is a B-RAF(V600E) inhibitor that has achieved some spectacular results.

However, resistance to BRAF inhibitors such as PLX4032 occurs, so understanding the mechanism of BRAF resistance is key to finding new druggable targets that may overcome this.

Sally Church has written one of her most insightful posts of 2011 on Pharma Strategy Blog that discusses recent research on BRAF resistance to melanoma.

In a post entitled, “COT drives resistance to PLX4032 through MAPK reactivation”, Sally discusses results published in a Nature Letter.

She also reviews the recent plenary talk by Keith Flaherty at the recent American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting and provides insights on the next generation of BRAF inhibitors.

Sally concludes that it looks like “metastatic melanoma will be a hot topic at ASCO.” You can read more about new products in development for melanoma on Pharma Strategy Blog.

How to bring new cancer drugs to market?

March 25th, 2011

Daedalus

Sally Church, PhD our oncology new products expert, is passionate about making a difference to the lives of patients with cancer. She channels her many talents and energies into helping pharma and biotech companies assess the best targets for their new products. It’s a job that requires science, marketing strategy and commercial awareness; a unique blend of skills.

Sally’s recent post on Pharma Strategy Blog entitled “Accelerated approval and cancer drugs” considers how best to bring new cancer drugs to market? Should promising oncology new products go from phase 2 clinical trials to market without the need for a large and expensive phase 3 registration study? If so, what happens when the data doesn’t pan out as happened with Roche/Genentech’s bevacizumab (Avastin) in breast cancer?

You can read more about Sally’s thoughts on Pharma Strategy Blog.

Pharma Strategy Consulting – BRAF inhibitor resistance and oncology drug development strategy

February 23rd, 2011

Daedalus

BRAF inhibitors such as PLX4032 have shown promising initial results in melanoma, but have suffered from drug resistance after 6-9 months. This has led to combination trials with AKT and MEK inhibitors to see if the time before drug resistance sets in can be extended.

However, recent research published in Cancer Research suggests that loss of PTEN function may be another mechanism of resistance. Researchers have looked at what may happen with the next generation of BRAF inhibitors, PLX4720.

Sally Church in a thoughtful post on Pharma Strategy Blog discusses how the insights from this latest research may impact oncology drug development strategy.

PLX4032 phase III data in metastatic melanoma announced by Roche

January 19th, 2011

Daedalus

Published by Sally Church on Pharma Strategy Blog

Targeting BAP1 – a future targeted therapy for Uveal Melanoma?

December 21st, 2010

Daedalus

Published by Pieter Droppert on Biotech Strategy Blog