microbe_man, I have re-read all your learned contributions posted in the last two months, and appreciate your incisive point of view. You are obviously a well-trained scientist, and skepticism is a trait any cautious investigator must have in abundance. I agree that the recent report of CTL-4/Bavi combo in mice should not have been reported in detail other than to say "recent studies are encouraging", or similar. However, as you know, the effect of any agent in lower animals is always suspect when trying to extrapolate them to humans, and we are still left with the impressive reports of Bavi safety and efficacy when used in advanced human lung cancer. In addition to the PIII study of Bavi with advanced lung cancer, which definitely needs to be done, there is Thorpe's elegant work which lays the groundwork for the very rational look at Bavi for human imaging. I have maintained for years that Bavi- cannot cure advanced cancers because of tumor bulk, etc., but might well have a role in preventing metastases and, more important, recurrences after debulking surgical and chemo-irradiation therapy, and also as adjuvant treatment during irradiation therapy. I have also maintained for years that was a necessity created by dire financial straits that dictated PPHM's move to combine Bavi- with chemo rather than with irradiation therapy or surgery. This post is growing too long to extoll the possibilities of the anti-PS platform in chronic inflammatory conditions, Alzheimers, infections, and auto-immune disease, and the possibilities of humanize Bavi armed with small-molecule cytotoxic agents. PPHM has a gold mine here in the anti-PS platform, and at present is continuing to assay various "veins" in that goldmine to determine which will be most productive. The PII human lung cancer trial was a stroke of good luck which shows safety and promise of efficacy. Period. You are right about the mice. This is beginning to remind me of the pioneering days of the cochlear implant for deafness when we had humans hearing with the implant and the acknowledged experts in auditory theory arguing for animal trials. Let's keep our eyes on the goal-line.
