monoclonal antibody potential
I've posted some of this information before, but just have a look at the full announcement from PRR last year:
The investment climate for companies with these monoclonal antibodies is almost a little difficult to believe.
Note the value gains Genentech is recording - over US$35bn increase in market capitalisation over the last two months due in part to the success of their Avastin and Herceptin monoclonal antibodies.
See here: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=DNA&t=6m
QUOTE "Celebrations have broken out all the way from Genentech headquarters in South San Francisco to Wall Street following announcements that Avastin and Herceptin are effective at fighting different types of cancer than the type for which they were already approved."
"Between March 1 and May 6, the Amex Pharmaceutical Index rose a modest 5 percent while Genentech’s shares jumped 54 percent to $73.12. Genentech’s market capitalization of $77.25 billion is now larger than Merck’s $75.43 billion."
Note that Genentech's market cap today is US$82.21 billion.
This is totally positive for PRR in the long term assuming they are able to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Cripto 1 antibodies in the clinic. Note that the antigen they target is over-expressed on a wide range of tumours (see below).
Here's the full text from the latest announcement on the antibody technology - just look at it! No wonder Medarex wanted a 50% share!! (by the way, this is not hype from me, this comes directly from the company, and yes, it's unbelievable!):
QUOTE Prima BioMed’s collaboration with Austin Research Institute produces positive results for its anticancer antibody program 3 June 2004, Melbourne Australia: Antibodies under development by Prima BioMed (ASX:PRR) subsidiary, Oncomab Pty Ltd, have been shown to prevent the formation of solid tumours in a mouse model of human colon cancer.
The results are described in a paper published in Cancer Research on 1 June 2004. Oncomab's antibodies target the cancer protein, Cripto. The research was performed by scientists at the Austin Research Inst itute (ARI) which has licensed the anti-Cripto antibodies to Oncomab, a project company of Prima BioMed Ltd.
Not only did the antibodies prevent the appearance of new tumours, but they also slowed the growth of established tumours by 80 per cent. Cripto has significant commercial potential as a target for anti-cancer therapy because healthy tissues have only low levels of Cripto if any, and cancer cells have high levels.
Oncomab’s monoclonal antibodies (so called because they react with one precise region of the target cancer protein) inhibited (by 70 to 95 per cent) the growth of several cancer cell lines that possess Cripto on their surfaces, including colon, breast, prostate, lung cancer and leukaemia.
The antibodies were not active against cells that lacked Cripto, showing that the effect was specific for the target and thus the cancer. "Our findings suggest that monoclonal antibodies targeting Cripto may prove to be of therapeutic value for patients with a variety of cancers," said chief scientist on the project, Dr Pei Xiang Xing. "The next step will be to adapt the technology for use in clinical trials. This process is already well underway and we anticipate being in a position later this year to ascertain whether we have produced a series of lead candidates to develop for a clinical trial.
If this development phase follows our forecasts a phase 1 clinical trial should begin in 2006." Monoclonal antibody based immunotherapy is showing promising clinical results in the treatment of advanced cancer with two monoclonal antibodies for cancer therapy already on the market; Herceptin from Genentech for treatment of metastatic breast cancer and Mabthera from Roche for the treatement of lymphatic cancers. Sales of these two products are already around $US1bn.
“Based on the activity profile we have seen so far, an antibody to Cripto would appear to have a greater potential use than either of these antibodies as the Cripto target is prevalent on so many more tumours,” stated Business Development Manager Ms Vanessa Waddell.
Oncomab’s monoclonal antibody, called C4, did not decrease the levels of Cripto found on cancer cells. Instead, it interfered with three different cell signalling pathways in what appears to be a unique mechanism, leading to an increase in cancer cell apoptosis (programmed cell death).
Further, the combination of anti-Cripto antibodies with other cytotoxic drugs currently in use as anti-cancer treatments (including cisplatin, fluoro-uracil and epirubicin) increased the inhibitory effects of these agents. If this process could be repeated in the clinic it would enhance the effect of these drugs or enable them to reduce the dose of the cytotoxic drugs.
Monoclonal antibodies directed at cancer target proteins have the advantage over other anticancer treatments of being specific in their actions. Cytotoxic agents kill all growing cells, whether associated with the cancer or non-cancerous. END QUOTE
If they can prove this up in the clinic... Think about it!
Again, this company has some of the very best fundamentals of any biotech in the Australian market. To think this all came out of ARI - maybe EK should convert that option.
Do your own research.
Dogbark
PRR Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)