Genentech optimistic about two medicines / Benefits seen against vision loss, arthritis

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Genentech optimistic about two medicines

Benefits seen against vision loss, arthritis

Bernadette Tansey, Chronicle Staff Writer   Wednesday, October 2,

2002

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Genentech Inc. said Tuesday early data are positive for two experimental

treatments -- a drug for severe vision loss and an approved cancer medicine

that might also work on rheumatoid arthritis.

The promising product news comes after a series of disappointments for

Genentech's new drug pipeline. However, the South San Francisco biotech

heavyweight saw only a 0.52 percent rise in its share price, closing at

$32.80.

Genentech released an abstract of Phase II data to be presented Oct. 26 on

the use of its best-selling drug Rituxan, an FDA-approved remedy for non-

Hodgkin's lymphoma, as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis in combination

with other drugs.

Analyst Kantor of WR Hambrecht & Co. said the preliminary results were

better than he had expected. About 50 percent of the patients treated with

one Rituxan combination saw their symptoms cut by half, Kantor said.

That rate of improvement compares favorably with two drugs on the market,

Remicade and Embrel, he said. Kantor owns no Genentech stock, but WR

Hambrecht disclosed that it might solicit or perform business deals with

Genentech during the next three months.

At the Retina Congress in San Francisco, Genentech investigators reported

that the experimental eye drug rhuFab improved the vision of 26 percent of a

small patient group treated for a form of age-related macular degeneration,

a progressive disease that can cause blind spots or complete blindness.

Genentech investigator Heier reported that the drug, on average,

appeared to slow or stabilize vision loss in all but three patients among

the 50 treated in the early-stage trial. Eye inflammations developed among

some patients but caused no lasting damage, Heier said.

Based on those results in the open-label Phase I trial designed to assess

the safety of the drug, the company will begin a larger clinical trial on

rhuFab early next year to fully gauge its effectiveness, said Genentech

spokeswoman Stutts.

" This is a nice piece of news for Genentech, " said Pacific Growth Equities

analyst Dietz. He said rhuFab might yield a reward for the company's

work on VEGF inhibitors -- drugs that slow the unhealthy growth of blood

vessels that can degrade vision, as in macular degeneration, or nourish the

growth of cancerous tumors.

Another Genentech VEGF inhibitor, Avastin, showed disappointing results

against breast cancer last month. Dietz owns no Genentech shares, but his

firm makes a market in the stock.

Although conference attendees congratulated Genentech on the positive rhuFab

data, the company was also the focus of a simmering beef over news stories

earlier this year suggesting the eye drug was a near-miracle cure. The

stories relied on personal impressions from Heier and several patients under

rhuFab treatment.

In comments after the Genentech presentation, an eminent New York eye

specialist stood to say the partial results should not have been aired first

in the popular press.

" It's harmful to clinical research, " said Dr. Lawrence Yannuzzi, a professor

of clinical ophthalmology at Columbia University Medical School, whose

comments drew wide applause.

In the conference hallways, other eye specialists said hundreds of desperate

patients called them in the wake of stories in People magazine and other

publications, demanding to be given the Genentech drug.

Heier emphasized that although the rhuFab data show promise, it will take

extensive additional testing to prove it can be safe and effective.

Stutts said Genentech had done nothing wrong by putting reporters in touch

with trial investigators like Heier, who was free to put them in contact

with his patients. She said Genentech itself released no data or

confidential patient information.

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