I just think the people were too sick in the PC trial to affect the MOS too much but it did work on the tumour 100% compared to the control.
I agree that the Stage IV patients were too sick to see a major improvement but I'm glad there was an improvement (double the response rate) which does indicate Bavi is very impressive!
Additionally... The risks of Avastin clearly place it at a disadvantage when placed up against Bavituximab:
"Cancer patients who took Avastin with chemotherapy or biological therapy were 1.5 times more likely to die from treatment-related causes than those taking the same chemotherapy or biological therapy drugs without Avastin, the review said."
"Among those taking Avastin, hemorrhages caused 23.5 percent of deaths, a blood disorder called neutropenia caused of 12.2 percent of deaths and gastrointestinal tract perforation (holes in the GI tract) caused of 7.1 percent of deaths, the study showed."
Avastin Risk Summary: "Internal bleeding in the lungs or in the gut were the leading causes of treatment-related death, according to the study."
Now after doctors/patients discuss the risks... which is procedure... which drug would you take if left up to Avastin or the potential future FDA approved Bavi ?
Bavituximab has clearly exhibited its safety profile through out pre-clinicals up to current trials.... and at ASCO 2010 were the first signs how safe Bavituximab actually was:
Note: This article was presented, in part, at the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, April 17–21, 2010, in Washington, DC.
My final note here will relate to the risk-management of a major Big Pharma. The BP's will be in meetings with Peregrine and they are certainly going to take into consideration at how Bavi can be "trial and error" so to speak with other drug combinations to see where the maximum benefit will lead: from response rate to ultimately overall survival. So yes...... I firmly see BP's lining up once they understand the direction and future that Bavi possesses... and how their risk taking on Bavi is significantly reduced due to the fact that Bavi has such a great safety profile and plays well with others.
I'll close with this statement taken from the Avastin link above:
"And patients who took drugs called taxanes or platinum agents with Avastin were 3.5 times more likely to die a treatment-related death than patients taking those drugs without Avastin, the study said."
If we on this IHUB board can make this distinction...... I can ensure you there is one Big Pharma out there that sees this safety-value of the Bavi platform.