Biotech Values

[isolution]

Just a coincidence


Remember my post #534

Oxigene competition

Even though Oxigene is the leader in vascular targeting agents based on inhibition of tubulin polymerization in endothelial cells, my attention was caught recently by other drugs being developped as combretastatin analogs by 3 other companies:

-The most recent one is Medicinova, who recently acquired rights to a series of novels VAT from Angiogene pharmaceuticals, called ANG 600 series.
-A bigger player is Aventis with AVE8062, combretastation analog originally developped by Ajinomoto under the name AC7700
-The last is AstraZeneca who also acquired right from Angiogene and now develops ZD6126

and check bio of David Chaplin on Oxigene's website:

Dai Chaplin,
Head of Research and Development & Chief Scientific Officer

David Chaplin, B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D., has been a leader in the field of vascular targeting for the last 10 years and one of the original discoverers of Combretastatin. His original work formed the basis for not only the development of Combretastatin A4 Prodrug with OXiGENE, but also the subsequent vascular targeting development programs at AstraZeneca and Aventis. Dr. Chaplin has more than 18 years of experience in oncology research. Most recently, Dr. Chaplin was Vice President, oncology at Aventis Pharma in Paris. Prior to the merger of Rhone Poulenc Rorer (RPR) with Hoechst Marion Roussell, Dr. Chaplin was senior director of oncology at RPR from 1998 to 1999. From 1992 to 1998, Dr. Chaplin led the Cancer Research Campaign's (CRC) Tumor Microcirculation Group, based at the Gray Laboratory Cancer Research Trust, Mount Vernon Hospital, London. Dr. Chaplin has also served as section head of Cancer Biology at Xenova in the UK and has held a senior staff appointment at the British Columbia Cancer Research Centre. Educated in the United Kingdom, Dr. Chaplin has a B.Sc. in chemistry from the University of Essex, a M.Sc. in pharmacology from the University of Southampton, and completed his Ph.D. in tumor biology at the University of London.

I've never noticed that point before, but it makes me more confident about IP portfolio of Oxigene. It seems a lot stronger than I previously thought.

Any comments?