Insmed Inc (INSM)

[Christiaan F]

The study of Letrozole (NVS) in combination with rhIGFBP-3 (INSM), which was presented in the Netherlands in February this year, and which was done by INSM as well as by NVS-sponsored researchers.

This was posted a few days ago:

Posted by: Digdeeper
IHUB

Letrozole/rIGFBP-3 = Novartis/Insmed, 78% inhibition.

"Why oh why has there NOT been an announcement about the SUPERIOR results on the treatment of Breast Cancer, by a combination of drugs from Novartis & Insmed?"

* Letrozole (Novartis)
* rIGFBP-3 (Insmed)

(...)Our results demonstrate, for the first time, the antitumor activity of rhIGFBP-3 against established MCF-7 Ca post-menopausal human breast cancer model and that its combination with letrozole at sub-optimal doses is proved superior to treatment with letrozole as first line treatment.

This research was/is done at the Mc-Gill university by Dr. Leyland-Jones who has been granted $10 million by the Department of Defense to find new treatments against Breast Cancer where rIGFBP-3 was selected as a Candidate Agent.

Breast Cancer Center of Excellence Awarded $10 Million Department of Defense Grant; rhIGFBP-3 Selected as a Candidate Agent in Clinical Trials

RICHMOND, Va., May 13, 2004 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Insmed Incorporated (NASDAQ:INSM) announced today the Department of Defense has granted a group of leading oncologists $10 million to support therapeutic individualization for breast cancer treatment in a translational research project. Insmed's rhIGFBP-3 has been selected as one of the candidate therapies for study. The lead investigator for the trials with rhIGFBP-3 is Dr. Brian Leyland-Jones of McGill University, former Head of Developmental Chemotherapy at the National Cancer Institute. The consortium of physicians collectively called the Breast Cancer Center of Excellence will use the emerging technologies of genomics, proteomics, and pharmacogenetics to predict individual response to therapeutic agents in advanced breast cancer. The desired outcome of the study will be to maximize patient benefit while minimizing the toxic side effects of standard therapies on the market today.

Geoffrey Allan, Ph.D., President and chief executive officer of Insmed added, "We are very pleased that the Department of Defense and the Breast Cancer Centers of Excellence have supported the selection of rhIGFBP-3 as a potential treatment for breast cancer and have provided significant funds to validate this novel therapeutic approach in future trials."

The presentation of this study (with a combination of Letrozole/rIGFBP-3) has taken place in February 2006 in the Netherlands at a conference called ' From Gene to Cure'.

(...)The treatment with rhIGFBP-3 (10 mg/kg) and letrozole (2 µg/ day) elicited an enhancement of letrozole anti-tumor activity (TGI = 78%) and was more effective than letrozole alone even at the highest dose tested. Moreover, this combination regimen resulted in tumor regression to the initial level at day 18.(...)

"It is suprising that Insmed nor Novartis have presented these SUPERIOR results at ASCO 2006. Novartis has done a presentation about the treatment of Breast Cancer with Letrozole, but the results were not as good as expected...

"Could it be that Novartis nor Insmed will give ground to speculation about a possible upcoming partnership in the future? What is going on here? The results (78% inhibition) justify a more then decent PR!"

http://www.eurcancen.org/GenetoCure06/abstracts/0.17.pdf
http://www.medicine.mcgill.ca/oncology/pubs/Leyland-Jones/Anti-InsulinLikeGrowth Factor.pdf

"Curious about the how and when, the results will be communicated to the investor community, whether by Novartis or by Insmed!"

**********************************************

See what Novartis presented on Letrozole at ASCO 2006 (page 10-15)

http://www.novartis.com/downloads_new/investors/NVS_ASCO_06.pd