Replies to post #183196 on Biotech Values

[ipollit77]

some rationale for Xtandi + pidilizumab combinations?

"Biological rationale to combine immunotherapy with hormonal therapy is "particularly strong". Immuno-oncology (IO) KOLs have suggested that the most compelling combination of checkpoint inhibitors may be with hormonal agents. Androgen blockade has been shown to activate thymic regeneration in mice and humans, therefore is an immunologically active intervention. In addition, androgen blockade was shown to traffic T-cells to the human prostate with 3 weeks of initiation. A recently published National Cancer Institute study with Xtandi specifically showed that Xtandi enlarged thymus and improved survival in combination with a cancer vaccine in a preclinical model.

We believe Xtandi's lack of requirement for concomitant steroid, which is at least suboptimal and potentially incompatible for use with immunotherapy, represents a fundamental differentiation vs. Zytiga in addition to other advantages."

[pcrutch]

this is mostly for the dive into TNBC. Although, I think they're a bit too late to be have an impact. MRK already has a study going and is an approved agent. Think Roche as well.

http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01848834?term=merck+tnbc&rank=1