"Braiteh and Kurzrock make a compelling case for targeting rare...

"Braiteh and Kurzrock make a compelling case for targeting rare cancers and discuss a new paradigm for the treatment of common cancers."

We have a 'clear and compelling commercial target' - Acute Myeloid Leukaemia, Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia and Multiple Myeloma. Previously we didn't even have proprietary drug candidates in as much as we could see from announcements, research work had been focussed upon the non-proprietary CPP-Omomyc fusion which was tested in an animal model of breast cancer.

The work by Braiteh and Kurzrock focuses upon the physiologic basis for tumors being rare which correlates with the reason that they are ultimately most treatable e.g. a cancer driven by a single, specific molecular abnormality, in turn makes it more likely that a therapy will have a significant effect on the majority of patients. Compare to common cancers where there may be numerous distinct molecular defects where it is unlikely that a single, relatively simple therapy will have a dramatic effect within the majority of patients in a clinical trial.

By way of comparison, Dr Laura Soucek and her team who are developing Omomyc were targeting lung cancer but more recently received a grant for research into the treatment of brain tumors.

Soucek is targeting the mutant MYC gene in brain cancers whereas Phylogica will target MYC in blood cancers. In the end, the strategy of both parties will move from the simple to the complex as they test the viability of targeting MYC in a range of cancers.

Interestingly, within the expanded thesis for the development of MYC therapies, the Grand Challenge fits handsomely within the Phylogica timeline for key phases to clinical development.