Anti-tumor activity of rapamycin in glioblastoma
In a clinical trial published this week in PLoS Medicine, Charles Sawyers and colleagues looked at the safety of a drug called rapamycin in a selected group of patients who were undergoingsurgery after recurrence of glioblastoma (a highly malignant tumor of the brain).
In a related research in translation article about the implications of the research, Robert J. Weil, who was not involved in the trial, suggests that the study points the way “toward rational design of therapy for stratified groups of patients who share common molecular features” and a future that allows “cancer researchers and clinicians to reach toward the holy grail of individualized therapy”
Citation: Cloughesy TF, Yoshimoto K, Nghiemphu P, Brown K, Dang J, et al. (2008) Antitumor activity of rapamycin in patients with recurrent PTEN-deficient glioblastoma. PLoS Med 5(1): e8
IN YOUR COVERAGE, PLEASE LINK TO THIS URL, WHICH WILL PROVIDE ACCESS TO THE PUBLISHED PAPER: http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0050008
PRESS-ONLY PREVIEW OF THE ARTICLE: http://www.plos.org/press/plme-05-01-sawyers.pdf
CONTACT:
Charles Sawyers
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Chairman, Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program
New York, NY 10021
United States of America
+1 646 888 2594
+1-646-888-2164 (fax)
sawyersc@mskcc.org
Related PLoS Medicine research in translation article:
Citation: Weil RJ (2008) Incorporating molecular tools into early-stage clinical trials. PLoS Med 5(1): e21.
IN YOUR COVERAGE, PLEASE LINK TO THIS URL, WHICH WILL PROVIDE ACCESS TO THE PUBLISHED PAPER: http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0050021
PRESS-ONLY PREVIEW OF THE ARTICLE: http://www.plos.org/press/plme-05-01-weil.pdf
CONTACT:
Robert J. Weil
Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Taussig Cancer Center
Cleveland, Ohio 44195
United States of America
+1 216-444-2007
+1 216-444-2682 (fax)
weilr@ccf.org
FROM THE PLoS MEDICINE MAGAZINE SECTION:
How the pharmaceutical market is failing pregnant women
The existing research and development and business model of the pharmaceutical industry is failing pregnant women, according a policy paper published this week in PLoS Medicine. In their analysis of an industry database that tracks drugs under development since 1981, Imperial College London’s Nick Fisk (Professor of Fetal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine) and Rifat, Atun (Professor of International Health Management, Tanaka Business School) show that pregnancy has become a virtual “pharma-free zone” with only seventeen drugs under active development for maternal health indications and only one new class of drug licensed in the last 20 years.
For their analysis, the authors searched the Pharmaprojects database, which lists all drugs identified as being under development from pharmaceutical company web sites, conferences, PubMed (a searchable database of the abstracts of published medical journal articles) and registered clinical trials. Over 37,000 drugs under development have been listed since 1981. They searched for drugs for obstetric applications and, in order to compare industry activity in maternal health relative to other areas of medicine, they also examined the database for drugs for cardiovascular indications and for a rare condition called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - a neurodegenerative disease sometimes called Lou Gehrig’s disease.
The team found only seventeen drugs under active development for maternal indications as of November 2007, less than 3% of the number in the pipeline in cardiovascular health (660 drugs) and less than those for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (34 drugs), which only affects two to five of 100,000 people. In contrast, worldwide there are over half a million maternal deaths annually while over 7 million babies die before or shortly after birth, 99% of these in the developing world.
The authors argue that their study demonstrates a “drug drought” in maternal health. They outline how the “push” mechanisms (funding to encourage investment from universities and companies) and “pull” mechanisms (funding to purchase drugs once they are on the market) relevant to the United Nations Millennium Development Goal of providing affordable essential drugs in developing countries have not been effective in the area of maternal health.
One of the reasons that pharmaceutical companies are reluctant to test and develop drugs in pregnancy, say the authors, is to avoid the litigation costs that come with the risk of birth defects and disfigurements, despite the fact that these risks are of little relevance to drug development for conditions in later pregnancy. Other reasons for market failure cited by the authors are the small market size for conditions affecting pregnant women, the limitations of a shareholder model (maternal health drugs have a greater potential for revenue shocks) and a regulatory system that allows endemic off-label use of drugs in pregnancy, discouraging pharmaceutical investment in the long term.
In contrast, the authors point towards models such as the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDI) as an example of a successful “push mechanism” that encourages investment and they suggest that not-for profit options – which do not rely on profit for innovation – should be considered. They conclude that “between the pull and the push, the international donor agencies have also forgotten these women. Given the unacceptably high number of maternal and perinatal deaths each year, it is high time to address this failure.”
Citation: Fisk NM, Atun R (2008) Market failure and the poverty of new drugs in maternal health. PLoS Med 5(1): e22.
IN YOUR COVERAGE, PLEASE LINK TO THIS URL, WHICH WILL PROVIDE ACCESS TO THE PUBLISHED PAPER: http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0050022
PRESS-ONLY PREVIEW OF THE ARTICLE: http://www.plos.org/press/plme-05-01-fisk.pdf
CONTACTS:
Elliott White
Press and PR Manager
Imperial College London
London
United Kingdom
+44 20 7594 9154
e.white@imperial.ac.uk
Marlene McKendry
Communications Officer
University of Queensland
Brisbane
Australia
+61 7 3346 4713
m.mckendry@uq.edu.au
About PLoS Medicine
PLoS Medicine is an open access, freely available international medical journal. It publishes original research that enhances our understanding of human health and disease, together with commentary and analysis of important global health issues. For more information, visit http://www.plosmedicine.org
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