Xconomy: Gilead Sciences Building on HIV, Becoming Cancer Drug Force
Summary
Gilead presented data in December that said this new drug, given in combo with Genentech’s rituximab (Rituxan) and bendamustine chemotherapy, shrank tumors and lymph nodes in 87 percent of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.If you wonder whether Gilead might have overpaid, consider this: Cambridge, MA-based Infinity Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: INFI) has seen its valuation climb to $2.3 billion mainly because of some encouraging, preliminary data for its rival drug that also inhibits the PI3 kinase “delta” variation.As Bruce Booth, a partner at Atlas Venture, pointed out on his blog March 13, Wilmington, DE-based Incyte (NASDAQ: INCY) became a $3 billion company on the basis of its JAK2 inhibitor, called ruxolitinib (Jakafi).The PI3 kinase drug that it acquired from Calistoga, for example, is moving ahead in five simultaneous Phase III clinical trials of patients with relapsed forms of chronic lymphocytic leukemia and indolent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.Baynes wouldn’t disclose the budget for this clinical development plan, or the timeline for when results are expected, but these five trials are all well-designed, randomized studies that are recruiting a total of 1,585 patients.