Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc fka ARIA

[biomaven0]

Outstanding results.

Here are a few key takeaways:

Toxicity - no patients dropped from the study for pancreatitis.

Deaths - in chronic phase, Talpaz believes no deaths attributable to the drug. The one death previously possibly attributable to the drug (pneumonia) was actually an embolism. The deaths in blast phase are to be expected - these patients have 6 months median survival.

In terms of efficacy, Talpaz emphasized repeatedly that this was a very advanced, "beaten-up" population. He said results here are comparable to those for Sprycel/Tasigna in 2nd line which he thought was very surprising and encouraging. Results are not yet mature - he thought another 15% (or more) MCyR.

Peter