Big pharmas reveal flood of cancer drugs at ASCO

New York Times biotech scribe Andrew Pollack takes a look at the work GSK, Pfizer and Wyeth are doing to muscle their way into the lucrative cancer market. All three are offering up advancements in oncology at this year's ASCO meeting in Atlanta. None were very active in cancer research several years ago, but with Genentech and ImClone making big headlines and big profits in the field, this is one market niche that can no longer be ignored. Pollack cites figures from PhRMA that show that 178 drug developers have some 400 new cancer therapies in the pipeline, three times the number being studied for heart attack and stroke. Doctors welcome the "flood," but the sudden arrival of competing therapies could finally drive down prices. For now, of course, the primary trend continues to be finding how high prices can go.

- read the article [1] from The New York Times

PLUS: Antigenics reported that Oncophage failed to demonstrate it was better than other therapies for melanoma. The biotech says it will now test the therapy in combination with others. Report [2]

ALSO: New data for Sutent, Tykerb and temsirolimus all made headlines over the weekend. Report [3]

AND: Shares of Sanofi-Aventis were buoyed after researchers issued positive new survival data on Taxotere at ASCO. Report [4]

PLUS: Bayer and Onyx announced that a late-stage trial of Nexavar for kidney cancer failed to demonstrate increased survival rates. Report [5]

FINALLY: Combination cancer therapies may replace chemotherapy as a primary method for treating cancer. Report [6]