Curis – The Hegdehog That Signals Growth
by Pharmboy - October 11th, 2010 7:16 pm
Courtesy of Pharmboy
Biotechnology investing is always a challenge, as many retailer investors buy in on the runs up, only to get hit by the failures of the trials. Many investors hear of the millions made on investments like DNDN, CELG, and ITMN (until it cratered by the FDA denial), but betting on a company without understanding the science is a sin. As a scientist, I do not advocate putting large sums into biotech picks, but putting some funds into companies that have a shot (and knowing when to invest) is what I try to do. Not all will be winners, but if a few are sound in the scientific field, money can be made. Take our last small biotech pick in the cancer arena, ImmunoGen (IMGN) – it is up from my August 29th writing from $5.75 (high of the day as we got in at a better price) to $7.44. We used a buy write strategy selling the January $6 Calls and Puts, so as long as IMGN holds $6 through January 2011, one will pocket 33%. Even selling a covered call would put one up 19%. This is our objective at PSW, letting investments come to us by doing simple plays and resting easy at night. I have been talking about Curis in member chat for awhile, and we bought and sold them in the beginning of the year. I now think the time is right for double dipping and taking a chance on a cancer treatment that could make a splash early next year.
Curis (NASDQ:CRIS) is developing targeted small molecule drug candidates for cancer indications where there are substantial unmet therapeutic needs. In 2000, Curis began operations in the merger of Creative BioMolecules, Ontogeny and Reprogenesis.
In the Company’s portfolio, the Hedgehog pathway inhibitor program (in collaboration with Genentech/Roche) is its most advanced program with lead small molecule candidate, GDC-0449. GDC-0449 is currently being tested in a pivotal Phase II clinical trial in advanced basal cell carcinoma as well as several other trials in collaboration with Genetech and the National Cancer Institute. More recently, in a Phase II clinical trial in advanced ovarian cancer (as a single agent maintenance therapy), the compound failed to excite Roche in its endpoints, and ‘preliminary findings from the primary analysis of the study warrant additional investigation to clarify and interpret potential clinical activity of the drug candidate…
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ImmunoGen – A Little Rock that Could be a Diamond
by Pharmboy - August 29th, 2010 2:01 pm
ImmunoGen (IMGN) shares were down on heavy volume Friday after a the FDA derailed a lead product, T-DM1, by issuing a decision to issue a "refuse to file" letter for proposed breast cancer treatment. Whilst it creates a setback for the short term, it opens the door for PSW members to get in on a stock that has huge potential in the cancer arena for significant gains.
ImmunoGen (IMGN) develops targeted anticancer drugs using its proprietary tumor-activated prodrug (Taxane-Based Tumor-Activated Prodrug – aka TAP) technology. What’s so special about the techology? The mAb enables a TAP compound to bind specifically to cancer cells that express a particular target antigen and the cytotoxic agent serves to kill the cancer cell. What are taxanes? Taxanes are diterpenes produced by the plants of the genus Taxus (yews). Taxanes include paclitaxel (Taxol) and docetaxel (Taxotere). The principal mechanism of the taxane class of drugs is the disruption of microtubule function. It does this by stabilizing GDP-bound tubulin in the microtubule. Microtubules are essential to cell division, and taxanes therefore stop this – a "frozen mitosis". Thus, taxanes are essentially mitotic inhibitors. In contrast to the taxanes, the vinca alkaloids (vincristine and vinblastine) destroy mitotic spindles. Both, taxanes and vinca alkaloids are therefore named spindle poisons or mitosis poisons, but they act in different ways.
Figure 1. Depicts a cell going through mitosis (cell division).
IMGN out-licenses its TAP technology to other companies (Amgen, Biogen-Idec, Centicor, Genentech, Sanofi, and others) for use with their proprietary antibodies to specific targets. The TAP technology addresses two critical components for companies pursuing monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapeutics: enhancing the yields from development programs by creating new products and/or providing product franchise life extension. Go here to see the show. ImmunoGen is currently studying several product candidates:
- First, trastuzumab-DM1, or T-DM1 for short, is for women with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer who have previously received multiple HER2-targeted medicines and chemotherapies, including Genentech’s Herceptin. A mid-stage study of the drug showed that it shrank tumors in women with HER2-positive breast cancer, a form of the malignancy in which the protein, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, promotes the growth of cancer cells. Now, the FDA reviewed Roche’s application for the drug, and the company is beginning several mid-stage and late-stage trials to test how the drug stacks up to combination therapies that pair other drugs and
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