MiB-3. Quantum realities and much more!

Well, it is not the Matrix but very funny! Much better than MiB-1 and especially MiB-2! Highly recommended!

From Advertisement: Contract Research Organizations (CROs) Market to 2018

Just take a look and you will understand that there is no chance that new medicinal products will be cheaper than existed ones...

Contract Research Organizations (CROs) Market to 2018

Increase in R&D Costs Compared to Revenue Growth a Reason for Outsourcing Clinical Trials to Contract Research Organizations The R&D productivity of top pharmaceutical companies has been declining in recent years as Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations surrounding the approval of new drugs become more stringent. This will significantly affect pharmaceutical companies' revenue generation. Many patents are set to expire in 2012 - 2018, which will further reduce revenue and erode profits. As a result, companies are making huge efforts to reduce R&D expenditure and increase profitability. Outsourcing clinical trial activities to Contract Research Organizations (CROs), particularly in the developing nations, is rapidly gaining acceptance in the industry. R&D expenditure for the 10 largest pharmaceutical companies increased at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 8.3% for the period 2004 - 2010 compared to a revenue turnover of 6.5%. The collective R&D expenditure for the top 10 companies stood at $42.1 billion in 2004, which increased to more than $67 billion in 2010. Revenue turnover increased from $293 billion in 2004 to $428 billion in 2010.

From Advertisement: Oncology Therapeutics Market to 2017

Well, nothing strange:

Launch of New Targeted Therapeutics will Drive Market Growth during the Forecast Period 2010 - 2017

The drug discovery and development process in the oncology sector is driven by the unmet needs of patients. The unmet need for most of the cancers is the availability of safe and effective targeted drugs to treat the late stages of the disease, when patients often stop responding to chemotherapy. The presence of many targeted therapeutics that treat late-stage cancers in Phase III product pipelines supports this point.

Product pipelines for all the therapeutic indications have targeted therapeutics in Phase III. The launch of some of the targeted therapeutics is expected to drive growth in the oncology therapeutics market during the forecast period 2010 - 2017.

Possible future for USA

I do not believe in this “dirty” propaganda – USA will find the solution how to survive! (But I do not know how L)

Music of the week. Relax - don't do it!

Another cure from cancer. Again! (Post No 6)

And this time the magic cure was developed by BMS and against lung cancer! Just take a look:

“This could be a breakthrough for lung cancer,” said Julie Brahmer, an oncologist at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore.

In an initial trial of 240 patients, the Bristol-Myers drug, known as BMS-936558, shrunk tumors in 24 of 95 melanoma patients, 10 of 33 people with kidney cancer and 13 of 75 of those with advanced lung cancer, according to preliminary information on the data, gathered in the first phase of tests usually needed for regulatory approval.

If the result holds up in further trials, the therapy may become a “backbone” for future combination treatments that attack cancer by weakening it with chemotherapy while simultaneously unleashing an immune system assault, said Seamus Fernandez, an analyst at Leerink Swann & Co. in Boston. In this case, Bristol-Myers’s drug may reap more than $4 billion a year in sales, he said.

$4 billion A YEAR! Unbelievable! I wish a success to BMS, however something deep inside me is saying that this is the next hype and PR campaign. Do you know why? BMS-936558 is the known mAb product Ipilimumab developed against melanoma. And as other mAbs it doubtfully can produce any magic outcome therefore I am just waiting for the coming disappointed results from the clinical trials. See examples of the failure here and here. Sorry for that.  

Masterpiece of the day. Missile defense

IP rights in future: dangerous perspective according to S.B. Pereslegin

Evolution of physics according to S.B. Pereslegin

Antibiotics market is not too sexy for Big Pharma. Factum!

I have already written that antibiotics market is not too sexy for Big Pharma. Here is the indirect confirmation of the situation: Britain’s two biggest drug makers have joined forces in a £180m research collaboration in the battle against the growing threat from bugs’ resistance to antibiotics. 180m??? Two biggest drug makers gave only 180m? Well, it sounds ridiculous and we plain simply understand that they do not expect to produce any blockbuster. However, a couple of motivating numbers from the article:

Some 25,000 people die in Europe every year due to bugs’ resistance to antibiotics, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Drug-resistant bacteria cost Europe €1.5bn annually in healthcare costs and lost productivity due to days spent in hospital.

Despite the looming crisis, drug makers have been slow to develop new antibiotics. AstraZeneca and GSK are the only major companies that have stayed involved while others have been put off by the tricky science and unpromising commercial prospects (antibiotics are usually only taken for short periods of time). The pipeline of future antibiotics has been described by the World Health Organisation as "virtually dry".

Masterpiece of the day. Do not smoke!

ABC of quantum history. S.Pereslegin

I would not scare you....

... but Comrad Stalin knows what you are thinking about!

Diabetes type 2: juicy bite for Big Pharma. Part 2

The potential of the market was already described. A couple of news regarding diabetes type 2 products: first about Amylin:

Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AMLN) (AMLN), the diabetes drugmaker that has put itself up for sale, received offers from Sanofi (SAN) and Merck & Co. in an initial round of bidding, said three people familiar with the process.

The companies made bids of at least $25 a share, said the people, who declined to be identified as the deliberations are private. That would value Amylin at more than $4 billion, based on its shares outstanding as of April 26. Offers were due yesterday for the San Diego-based company, whose medicines include Bydureon and Byetta, the people said.

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) (BMY) indicated to Amylin they also would make bids, the people said. Amylin began looking for suitors with Credit Suisse Group AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. after rejecting a $3.5 billion offer from Bristol-Myers this year, people with knowledge of the matter said last month.

$4 billion… $3.5 billion… Well, I think it is extremely high price just for one product! And $1.5 billion in annual revenue:

Amylin received approval in January for Bydureon, a once- weekly formulation of its earlier medicine Byetta, and the drugs may draw $1.5 billion in annual revenue in the next few years, said Phil Nadeau, an analyst with Cowen & Co. in New York.

And the next about GSK:

GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) will reveal detailed results today on an experimental treatment for diabetes that’s part of the reason for a $2.6 billion hostile takeover bid for Human Genome Sciences Inc. (HGSI), its partner on the drug.

“Glaxo’s drug is reasonably likely to partake in a very big and dynamic market,” Amusa said in an interview. “So even if it is a later entrant, it’s still one that can do quite well.” He estimates sales may reach 453 million pounds ($712 million) in 2018.

About 552 million people, or one in 10 adults, may have diabetes by 2030, compared with about 366 million now, if nothing is done to curb the epidemic, the International Diabetes Federation said in a report in November. As many as 183 million people have the disease and don’t know it, the Brussels-based federation said.

Not bad. Very motivating numbersJ

Masterpiece of the day. Bayer's blockbuster :)

Personalized medicine as a dead end

I have written a lot that personalized medicine is misleading approach in the modern medicine development (see also here). A lot of resources were spent in vain and really progressive research suffered. Here is another article which describes the poor outcome of personalized medicine.

The researchers conducted a simulation study by generating a broad range of possible statistical interactions among common environmental exposures and common genetic risk markers related to each of the three diseases. Then they estimated whether such interactions would significantly boost disease prediction risk when compared with models that didn't include these interactions since, to date, using individual genetic markers in such predictions has provided only modest improvements.

For breast cancer, the researchers considered 15 common genetic variations associated with disease risk and environmental factors such as age of first menstruation, age at first birth, and number of close relatives who developed breast cancer. For type 2 diabetes, they looked at 31 genetic variations along with factors such as obesity, smoking status, physical activity, and family history of the disease. For rheumatoid arthritis, they also included 31 genetic variations, as well as two environmental factors: smoking and breastfeeding.

But, for each of these disease models, researchers calculated that the increase in risk prediction sensitivity - when considering the potential interplay between various genetic and environmental factors - would only be between 1% and 3% at best.

"Overall, our findings suggest that the potential complexity of genetic and environmental factors related to disease will have to be understood on a much larger scale than initially expected to be useful for risk prediction. The road to efficient genetic risk prediction, if it exists, is likely to be long," said Aschard.

"For most people, your doctor's advice before seeing your genetic test for a particular disease will be exactly the same as after seeing your tests," added Kraft.

Big Pharmas strategy in a nutshell

Very emotional but right article about the macro-strategy of Big Pharma. Just a couple of quotes:  

Pharmaceutical companies have to spend more on marketing and advertisement because most prescriptions being introduced on the market are not new drugs, but merely imitations of already existing medicines. The lion’s share of this “research and development” either goes towards copying another company’s pill or tweaking the molecular formula of one of their own drugs that’s lost its patent. How many prescription nasal allergy sprays are advertised on television? Do we really need Pfizer’s Lipitor and AstraZeneca’s Crestor if both lower cholesterol? Or what about Nexium — the “healing purple pill” — that was introduced only after Prilosec lost its patent status and became available over the counter? The examples are endless.

Sometimes these copy-cat drugs are actually more dangerous than the ones they’re replacing. Vioxx, for instance, was a hugely profitable drug despite the fact that it was no more effective than aspirin and significantly more fatal.

 

These billion-dollar companies don’t market their drugs in order to educate us. They do it to secure their own piece of the lucrative drug market. Since there are a handful of other drugs on the market that do exactly the same thing, the aim of these marketing campaigns is to make their brand name and their pill the one that doctors are familiar with and prescribing. The pharmaceutical industry spends nearly $25 billion on things like pens, clocks, sporting event tickets and vacations that advertise to doctors and medical students. This calculated investment provides these mega-corporations enormous returns.

Additionally, pharmaceutical companies consistently seek to create lifestyle drugs — drugs that healthy people take to improve appearance or performance. Nearly every major pharmaceutical company is producing drugs for conditions like hair loss, acne, rosacea or erectile dysfunction. Pharmaceutical companies invest in prescriptions that Americans can afford and believe they need while neglecting to invest in cures and preventive treatments for diseases like malaria that are decimating the developing world.

Well, very brief but informative. Nothing to add or exclude…

Innovative syringes… Again

Another approach is here, this time – needleless.

ABC of using of catastrophes.

Amazing material from Pereslegin. Helicopter Sputnic view...

Music of the week. DM. Suffer well - hard to tell :)

Masterpiece of the day. Go beyond!

HIV life cycle

Quote of the week. Pereslegin

Вся человеческая история, вся эволюция жизни на Земле — антиэнтропийны. Жизнь менее устойчива, нежели смерть, но разве это повод не жить?

Pereslegin

Music of the week. DM. It's no good

Quote of the day. Pavlov about depression

Stem cells treatment as a new Black Swan?

Nanotechnology is not sexy anymore and we have a new hype! It looks like stem cell treatment is regarded as panacea! Everything is potentially treatable with stem cells!

From the advertisement of one review:

With our study you also assess the R&D pipeline, seeing trends and outlooks. You find discussions of treatments in development, by therapeutic area and organisation:

• Autoimmune diseases - modifying the immune system

• Diabetes - restoring pancreatic function

• Oncology and cancer treatment

• Cardiovascular diseases - healing the heart and vascular system

• Neurological and cerebrovascular disorders - regenerating CNS tissue

• Ophthalmic disorders - potential for overcoming sight loss

• Bioartificial livers and hepatic regeneration with stem and progenitor cells

• Dermatology - developments in cellular skin repair

• Adipose-derived stem cells for autologous treatments

• Regenerative dentistry - potential for biotechnological tooth replacement.

What will happen next? The biotechnology industry will develop many products using stem cells and increase revenues there from 2012 to 2022. The R&D pipeline is extensive. Overall world revenue will reach $7.3bn in 2014, our report forecasts.

Expansion of the market will result from new stem cell treatments and increased uptake of those technologies in drug development assays.

A diverse pipeline of therapies offers hope for treating many diseases. There are potential cures for diabetes, HIV and dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Stem cell-based innovations tackle cardiovascular disorders, autoimmune diseases, metabolic disorders and many other conditions. Some of the breakthroughs will be a commercial reality by 2022, our investigation predicts.

Time to buy GOLD?

From here: http://fintrend.com/2012/05/17/precious-metals-market/

For many years now, a meme has been floating around that the prices of gold and silver are being manipulated, which is to say suppressed, by various powers of darkness. This is not an unreasonable assertion. After all, the last thing the monetary powers-that-be want is to see is the price of gold skyrocketing. That would serve as an alarm bell, possibly panicking people all over the world, telling them to get out of the dollar. It’s assumed, by those who believe in the theory, that the US Treasury is behind the suppression scheme, in complicity with a half-dozen or so large bullion banks that regularly trade in the metals.

Music of the week. USSR anthem

Eurovision song contest! :)

Masterpiece of the day. Russian approach

Another cure from cancer. Again! (Post No 5)

We have another miracle molecule which cures the cancer! No doubt about it when scientists at McMaster University work hard!

A team of scientists at McMaster University has discovered a drug, thioridazine, successfully kills cancer stem cells in the human while avoiding the toxic side-effects of conventional cancer treatments.

“The unusual aspect of our finding is the way this human-ready drug actually kills cancer stem cells; by changing them into cells that are non-cancerous,” said Mick Bhatia, the principal investigator for the study and scientific director of McMaster’s Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute in the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine.

Unlike chemotherapy and radiation, thioridazine appears to have no effect on normal stem cells.

Well, what miracle molecule comes next?

Nexavar. The failure was triple!

I written that Nexavar failed against lung cancer but the way to the failure was more dramatic than I could imagine! The market for lung cancer is huge and Big Pharma plays hard!

Quote of the day. Who is Jude? Göring decission.

«У себя в Люфтваффе я сам решаю, кто еврей, а кто нет».

Hermann Wilhelm Göring

Music of the week. Belarus

Eurovision song contest :)



Nassim Taleb. Very frankly as usual.

“This business [risky derivatives] is too complicated for the banks and Wall Street…. They should out of this business… They should just lend money to farmers… Their bonuses are insult to our intelligence”.

Well, just to paraphrase Taleb regarding Big Pharma:

Drug development process is too complicated for Big Pharma… They should out of this business… They should just manufacture aspirin and ship it to drugstores… Their profits are insult to our intelligents”.

Air Force Academy Graduates First Openly Gay Cadets. No jokes!

As President Obama addressed the graduates, no rainbow flags could be seen on display. Well, the american World has completely changed... Welcome to post-modern society :)

Big Pharma marketing. Very cynical strategy

Sad but true...

The end of drug discovery. Now obvious for BBC radio

Listen on the radio about the total failure:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01hxh76/The_End_of_Drug_Discovery/

And the reason is very simple and known: Big Pharma is not interested in innovations.

ABC of Bilderberg Group

Wiki about the issue

Another failure for targeted medicine.

This time it is Nexavar (Sorafenib)

A cancer treatment from Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals and Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. failed to meet its main, late-stage study goal of improving overall survival in patients with advanced cases of lung cancer

From wiki:

Sorafenib (a bi-aryl urea[2]) is a small molecular inhibitor of several Tyrosine protein kinases (VEGFR and PDGFR) and Raf kinases (more avidly C-Raf than B-Raf).

(Protein kinases are overactive in many of the molecular pathways that cause cells to become cancerous. These pathways include Raf kinase, PDGF (platelet-derived growth factor), VEGF receptor 2 and 3 kinases and c Kit the receptor for Stem cell factor. )

Sorafenib is/was unique in targeting the Raf/Mek/Erk pathway (MAP Kinase pathway).

Sorafenib inhibits some intracellular serine/threonine kinases (e.g. C-Raf, wild-type B-Raf and mutant B-Raf).

Well, I have already written about inefficiency of the “targeted approach” as well as about the cost of such approach! Who will fail next?

Quote of the day. Sun Tzu. Magic!

The art of scientific strategy: "The opportunity to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself. "

More is here:

"Hепобедимость заключена в себе самом, возможность победы заключена в противнике"

Сунь-цзы

Все предписания стратегии и тактики исходят у Сунь-цзы из одной мысли - мысли о победе. Поэтому ему прежде всего необходимо установить саму природу победы. Выяснению этого понятия посвящена IV глава трактата.

Прежде всего надлежит понимать, что победа есть результат взаимодействия двух сторон - своей и противника. Чтобы иметь победу, нужно иметь того, над кем ее одержать. Во-вторых, следует понять, что победа есть результат соединения моей собственной непобедимости для противника с возможностью для меня победить его. Собственная непобедимость, с точки зрения Сунь-цзы, есть результат доведенной до полноты обороны; возможность победить противника сводится только к одному - к способности наступать. "Непобедимость есть оборона; возможность победить есть наступление", - кратко говорит Сунь-цзы (IV, 2). Настоящая оборона не есть признак слабости; наоборот, она есть признак силы. В самом деле, если бы оборона не была проявлением силы, она не была бы обороной. А если оборона есть действительно оборона, т. е. такая сила, о которую разбиваются все усилия противника, она есть тем самым и непобедимость.

Таков смысл слов Сунь-цзы. Но непобедимость не есть еще победоносность. Эффективная оборона не есть наступление. "Когда обороняются, значит, есть в чем-то недостаток" (IV, 2). В чем? В чем-нибудь у себя? Нет, потому что такая оборона, которую Сунь-цзы только и называет "обороной", есть полная, совершенная оборона, создающая свой наивысший эффект- собственную непобедимость. Следовательно, недостаток не в себе самом; он в том, что мешает непобедимости превратиться в победоносность, обороне - в наступление, своей непобедимости - в возможность победить. Но "непобедимость заключена в себе самом, возможность победы заключена в противнике", говорит Сунь-цзы (IV, 1). "Тот, кто хорошо сражается может сделать себя непобедимым, но не может заставить противника обязательно дать себя победить (IV, 1). Именно этого недостает обороняющемуся: возможности победить. Недостает ему потому, что возможность победы над противником в конечном счете предоставляется им самим. "Поэтому и сказано, - цитирует Сунь цзы какое-то древнее изречение. - "Победу знать можно, сделать же ее нельзя"" (IV, 1). Можно знать, что нужно иметь от противника, чтобы его победить, но это не значит еще заставить его именно это иметь. Поэтому "в древности тот, кто хорошо сражался, прежде всего делал себя непобедимым и в таком состоянии выжидал, когда можно будет победить противника". Нужно, следовательно, чтобы противник сам открыл возможность победы над собой; в этот момент своя непобедимость превращается в победоносность, оборона тем самым становится наступлением.

"Когда нападают, значит, есть все в избытке", - кратко говорит Сунь-цзы (IV, 2). В избытке такие признаки состояния противника, которые дают возможность его победить, возможность, следовательно, открываемую им самим. Победу создают две сталкивающиеся противоположности - "я" и "противник"; в ней, в победе, сходятся два противоположных начала: своя собственная непобедимость и возможность победы над противником.

Как же все-таки в таком случае одерживают победу? Сунь-цзы говорит: "Кто хорошо сражался, прежде всего делал себя непобедимым и в таком состоянии выжидал, когда можно будет победить противника" (IV, 1). Понятие "ждать" у Сунь-цзы отнюдь не пассивное. Оно прежде всего означает: внимательно следить за противником, т. е. содержит в себе признак активного действия. Кроме того, "ждать" значит не только "следить", но и "не упускать" случая. "Тот, кто хорошо сражается, стоит на почве невозможности своего поражения и не упускает возможности поражения противника" (IV, 6). "Наука верховного полководца состоит в умении оценить противника, организовать победу" (X, 10).

Что же подлежит наблюдению и оценке? Ответ на это дается Сунь-цы особым учением о "полноте" и "пустоте".

Эти два слова стоят в заголовке VI главы трактата, но Сунь-цзы говорит о "полном" и "пустом" неоднократно и в других местах. Смысл, вкладываемый автором в эти слова, в разных случаях различен. Но все же он сводится к одним общим понятиям: под "полнотой" подразумевается полнота боевой подготовки, способность к активным действиям, полная неуязвимость для противника; под "пустотой" подразумевается несовершенство подготовки, слабая способность к действиям, уязвимость. Вместе с тем слово "полнота" Сунь-цзы прилагает и ко всякому частному случаю, называя так всякий сильный пункт; словом же "пустота" называет любой слабый, уязвимый пункт.

Именно за этой "пустотой" у противника, обнаружением у него каких-либо дефектов, недостатков, слабых, уязвимых сторон и должен следить полководец. Поэтому особенно важно, чтобы он умел оценивать, так как часто лишь очень опытный глаз может открыть за как будто ничего не значащим признаком наличие уязвимого пункта. Этот момент и не должен упускать полководец. Что же он делает в этом случае? По учению Сунь-цзы, он должен "пустоте" у противника противопоставить "полноту" у себя, уязвимости противника- свою собственную неуязвимость, причем в первую очередь именно в том пункте, в котором обнаружилась уязвимость противника. Например, если у противника обнаружилось утомление, нужно противопоставить ему свежесть своих сил; если у него появился недостаток боеприпасов, нужно противопоставить полноту своего снабжения; если в его позиции обнаружился какой-нибудь дефект, нужно противопоставить крепость своей позиции, и т.д. Это и есть уже, в сущности, победа. Полководец, сумевший открыть уязвимый пункт противника, сумевший противопоставить ему свою собственную неуязвимость, уже тем самым, как думает Сунь-цзы, победил. Сражение только оформляет уже достигнутую победу.

Такая точка зрения позволяет Сунь-цзы высказать следующий парадокс: "Войско, долженствующее победить, сначала побеждает, а потом ищет сражения; войско, осужденное на поражение, сначала сражается, а потом ищет победы" (IV, 6). Сунь-цзы считает, что в таком сражении "побеждают уже побежденного" (IV, 5).

Употребляя свои понятия "полноты" и "пустоты", Сунь-цзы уподобляет удар такой уже победившей армии по армии, уже, в сущности, побежденной, удару "камнем по яйцу", "полным по пустому" (V, 4). Наличие "твердости" у камня есть уже победа над "хрупкостью" яйца. Это сравнение рисует предрешенность победы; другим сравнением Сунь-цзы обрисовывает всесокрушающую силу удара того войска, которое должно победить: "Когда побеждающий сражается, это подобно скопившейся воде, с высоты тысячи саженей низвергающейся в долину" (IV, 10).

Итак, полководец должен уяснить себе двойственную природу победы и еще в одном смысле: победа есть результат столкновения собственной неуязвимости с уязвимостью противника, или, выражаясь словами Сунь-цзы, результат столкновения "полноты" у себя с "пустотой" у противника.

Но знание природы победы дает уже оружие в руки полководцу. Уметь подметить уязвимый пункт противника и, вместе с тем, противопоставить ему свою неуязвимость - это значит решить победу. Таким образом, Сунь-цзы, с полным правом сказавший (в одном смысле), что победу сделать нельзя (IV, 1), может с таким же правом (уже в другом смысле) сказать: "победу сделать можно" (VI, 10).

Сунь-цзы остается верен своей основной мысли: самая лучшая, самая верная победа достигается еще до сражения. "Тот, кто видит победу не более, чем прочие люди, не лучший из лучших. Когда кто-либо, сражаясь, одержит победу и в Поднебесной скажут "хорошо", это не будет лучший из лучших" (IV, 3). Лучший из лучших, конечно, тот, кто "побеждает уже побежденного". Эта победа не только самая верная, но и самая легкая: победа в сражении с таким противником будет простым ударом "камня по яйцу". Однако в таком случае полководец оказывается в странном положении. Обычно никому не приходит в голову удивляться тому, что твердым камнем удалось разбить хрупкое яйцо. Совершенно так же обычно никто не станет восхищаться легкой победой. "Когда поднимают легкое перышко, это не считается большой силой; когда видят солнце и луну, это не считается острым зрением; когда слышат раскаты грома, это не считается тонким слухом... Поэтому, когда хорошо сражавшийся побеждал, у него не оказывалось ни славы ума, ни подвигов мужества" (IV, 4). Таково теперь отношение света, или Поднебесной, как говорят китайцы, к такому полководцу. Увидеть его искусство, оценить его талант обычно могут только те немногие, кто обладает большим умом и проницаемостью. Китайские писатели, противопоставляя чему-нибудь отрицательному что-нибудь положительное или идеальное, обычно ссылались на древность. Поэтому и Сунь-цзы говорит: "Про кого в древности говорили, что он хорошо сражается, тот побеждал, когда было легко победить" (IV, 4).

Drugs for execution... What can be uglier?

ABC of chaos theory

Another myth is reviled

If I didn’t knew so  in any way I suspected that Big Pharma created the nice story about bad and good cholesterol and used this story to yield extremely high profits. And that the story is not adequate does not surprise me:

Researchers on Thursday challenged a tenet of modern medicine that higher levels of "good" cholesterol automatically boost cardiovascular health.

In a study published in The Lancet, investigators said they found no evidence to back the belief that higher levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol routinely reduce the risk of a heart attack.

 High concentrations of HDL are one of the big markers for blood tests.

Who knows how many other bogus stories are out there?

Very funny Butterfly-effect. Music of the week

Intra-tumour heterogeneity

A very profound review on the subject. Highly recommended for those who work in oncology field and will understand the dynamics of cancer development. One of the conclusions:

Tumour cell phenotypes are the result of the integration of inputs from genotype, environmental stimuli and stochastic processes that occur within cells. Genetic and epigenetic changes that arise during oncogenic transformation and tumour progression alter and diversify cellular phenotypes, posing a major obstacle to the understanding and clinical management of cancers. We suggest that the phenomenon of intra-tumour phenotypic heterogeneity, especially aspects that are related to clonal diversity, deserves to be recognized and accounted for during the analysis of primary tumours, building of experimental models and design of therapeutic approaches. Furthermore, because  tumours contain phenotypically distinct populations of both tumour and stromal cells that interact in a dynamic and reciprocal manner, these interactions are likely to result in the emergence of networks of interactions the properties of which can be understood from an ecological perspective.

Yes, personalized medicine in oncology is dead…

ABC of innovations in drug delivery

Really basics Doxil, avastin etc - nothing novel:



Paribok and consciousness

Practical aspects of reduction of self-wave-function (awareness), time perception, observer and other quantum properties of consciosness.

The choice of the future

Could you ever imagine such scenario?

Another cure from the cancer. Again! (Post No 4)

From here:

Ambit Biosciences, a private biopharmaceutical company, and Israel based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited, have received Investigational New Drug application (IND) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for CEP-32496, a novel BRAF (V600E) kinase inhibitor.

The IND filing was based upon promising therapeutic potential for this agent, as evidenced by data revealed in recent publications in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Cancer Therapeutics characterizing the preclinical properties of CEP-32496. The two publications feature results that demonstrate CEP-32496 is a selective and potent inhibitor of BRAF (V600E) in cells.

The published preclinical findings also demonstrate that CEP-32496 possesses potent and sustained anti-tumour activity in xenograft models of melanoma and colon carcinoma. CEP-32496 possesses attractive pharmacokinetic properties upon oral administration and benchmarks favourably with respect to other kinase inhibitors that have activity at the BRAF (V600E) mutated kinase.

“The data that we have generated to date in these preclinical studies lead us to believe that we have a promising drug candidate with CEP-32496 and is further validation of our successful drug discovery collaboration with Ambit,” said Bruce Ruggeri, PhD, senior director, Oncology and Inflammation Discovery Research of Teva. “We look forward to exploring the full potential of this drug candidate to improve outcomes in patients with tumors possessing the BRAF(V600E) mutation.”

Well, I am really glad that we found extremely promising drug candidate and hopefully will be able to cure different types of cancer in the nearest future! But a couple questions bothering me:

• What's wrong with other targets inhibitors? I mean CEP-32496 is not the first kinase inhibitor, why the other inhibitors do not cure the cancer?
• Why CEP-32496 should be much better or more promising than other inhibitors?

Just another inhibitor for just another kinase?

Previous "magic cure" described here.