Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

Addendum on CA4P’s cardiac toxicity:

>> The guys on the oxgn board are taking a big chance thinking there is a work around. <<

I think they may be drunken on account of Druckenmiller

One poster on the OXGN board says the cardiac toxicity has been “dealt with.” This is true to a degree: you can deal with toxicity by lowering the dose or by tweaking the molecule, and OXGN has done both. However, lowering the dose of CA4P lowers the efficacy in some settings, and the “tweaked” molecule (OXi4503) will not enter phase-1 trials until late 2004.

It seems that the QTc-prolongation issue with CA4P may cause some real problems in both cancer and ophthalmology. In cancer, it may be hard to find the therapeutic window in which CA4P has enough oomph to get the job done without excessive cardiac risk. In ophthalmology, the issue is whether the FDA –and practicing ophthalmologists— will tolerate any cardiac toxicity at all in a condition which is devastating but is not life-threatening.