Biotech Values

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ZGEN - Xconomy's comments from ZGEN's CMO

ZymoGenetics’ next clinical trial will randomly assign about 80 patients to its new drug or DTIC, says Eleanor Ramos, the company’s chief medical officer. The trial is on track to start within a couple months. And it should offer an alternative to the Bristol drug, because that product was tested as a second-round therapy for melanoma patients, while the ZymoGenetics drug is a first-round therapy for patients with the worst prognosis, Stage 4 disease, she says.

“Clearly, not every patient responds to the other therapies,” Ramos says. “And a 23 percent response rate is quite good in this patient population, with a single-agent treatment, and with the safety profile we have. There’s room for different therapies, and different combinations.” She added that the ZymoGenetics drug could be combined over time with oral pills in cocktail treatments that may be able to boost the tumor shrinkage rates.

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