For some reason there seems to be a lot of interest in Patrick Swayze trying Vatalanib and CTIC’s plans for Pixantrone (Pix). Well, let’s just discuss the latter here.

On Wednesday, we wrote up a piece about two issues everyone’s been concerned with:

1. Will Novartis (NVS) execute its option to license Pix?

2. How serious are the cardiac issues?

Well, CTIC responded. Dan Eramian from IR left a message/comment on the post and here were his answers, in reverse order:

“SERIAL CARDIAC FUNCTION EVALUATION, A DIRECT MEASUREMENT OF THE DRUG’S POTENTIAL EFFECT ON THE HEART TISSUE WAS NO DIFFEREENT THAN STANDARD CHEMOTHERAPY. CARDIAC ADVERSE EVENTS IS A CLASSIFICATION THAT REFERS TO ANY CONDITION WHICH MAY LEAD TO A FAST HEART RATE, LOW BLOOD PRESSURE, ETC, WHETHER IT IS RELATED TO THE DRUG’S DIRECT DAMAGE TO THE HEART OR NOT. ONLY 1 CARDIAC ADVERSE EVENT WAS REPORTED IN THE TRIAL BELIEVED TO BE DUE TO THE EFFECT OF THE DRUG DESPITE THE FACT THAT ALL PATIENTS HAD AN AVERAGE OF MAXIMUM DOESES OF PRIOR ANTHRACYCLINE THERAPY — AN UNPRECENDENTED RESULT.”

“THE NOVARTIS OPTION ON PIX REMIANS INTACT, IT IS ALSO TRUE THAT SINCE CTI RELEASED POSITIVE PHASE III RESULTS, OTHER COMPANIES HAVE APPROACHED THE COMPANY ABOUT A CO-PARTNERSHIP.”

Overall, we gotta say thanks to CTIC. We love communicating with readers and companies and we think the clarity is great. Deeply appreciated.

Here’s our thoughts:

1. Cardiac issues – we agree. Unless there is something totally serious, it shouldn’t be a concern for the FDA or patients, especially in a third-line setting where patients have limited or no options.

2. Other parties – CTIC, if BiPar can get a deal done with Sanofi, then…

Thoughts?

Image from medicinescomplete

No positions in CTIC or its competitors

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