Replies to post #57409 on Avid Bioservices Inc (CDMO)

[cheynew]

It's already dropping pre-market, down to 1.76 from a high of 1.85. With the ASM this week, management may try to get it to run a little (I hope). On another topic, has anyone ever heard of Avid Biotic?

AvidBiotics Receives Two New Grants for Narrow-Spectrum Antibacterial Proteins, Bringing Total NIH Funding to Date to $4 Million

I looked at their website (originally I thought it was PPHM's AVID), but they are in South San Francisco, private, and started in 2005. I'm surprised the names are so similar.

[cjgaddy]

Reuters Followup Article on Cotara @CNS'10

10-18-10: “Peregrine: Brain Cancer Trial Results Show Promise”
* Median survival 86 weeks vs expected 24 weeks
* Full results from Phase II trial expected mid-2011
By Deena Beasley, Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1412346620101018

LOS ANGELES, Oct 18, 2010 (Reuters): Interim results from a mid-stage trial of an experimental brain cancer drug developed by Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc (PPHM) show that patients lived about 3 1/2 times as long as would be expected if they were left untreated, according to the company.

Peregrine said the trial's first 14 patients lived a median of 86 weeks, compared with expected survival of about 24 weeks for patients whose cancer has recurred. "It's extremely encouraging," Joseph Shan, the company's head of clinical and regulatory affairs, told Reuters in a telephone interview. Shan said a couple of patients treated in an earlier trial of the drug, Cotara, are still alive nine years later,

The current trial is expected to enroll up to 40 patients with glioblastoma multiforme -- the most common and deadly form of brain cancer -- whose disease has recurred following standard treatment. The initial findings are from patients enrolled at a medical center in New Delhi, India. Full trial results, including U.S. sites, are expected by mid-2011. Cotara is a genetically engineered antibody designed to target certain cancer cells that also carries a cell-killing radioactive isotope. It is infused directly into the tumor, with the aim of sparing healthy tissue from the radiation.

Peregrine said it plans to meet with U.S. regulators next year to discuss how best to move forward with development of the drug. Similar "radioimmunotherapies" like Zevalin, now sold by Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc (SPPI) for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, have had limited commercial success due largely to a combination of reimbursement issues and the complexity of coordinating patient care between oncologists and hospitals.

Steven King, Peregrine's CEO, said Zevalin, which is infused throughout the body, is associated with bone marrow suppression -- which is not an issue with Cotara since it is sent directly into brain tumors. He explained that a radiation/oncology group is involved in delivering the drug, but patients are being overseen by a neurosurgeon. "Clearly we think there is a nice market for a drug like Cotara," King said. "It is only used as single agent, single infusion, but there is the potential to combine it with other drugs." Side effects of Cotara seen in the trial included swelling of the brain, seizures and headaches. The study results were presented at the Congress of Neurological Surgeons Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
*end*