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`Copyright 1999 Factiva, a Dow Jones and Reuters Company
`All Rights Reserved
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` (Copyright (c) 1999, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
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`The Wall Street Journal
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`November 17, 1999 Wednesday
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`SECTION: HEALTH; Pg. B7
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`LENGTH: 769 words
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`HEADLINE: Drug Progress on Hard-to-Treat Cancers Is Cited
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`BYLINE: By Robert Langreth and Michael Waldholz, Staff Reporters of The Wall Street Journal
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`BODY:
`Cancer researchers presented promising early test results of several drugs that exploit new insights into the biology
`of cancer cells to attack some of the hardest-to-treat cancers.
`At a scientific meeting in Washington yesterday, researchers presented early-stage human-trials results of a new
`gene-based cancer drug from AstraZeneca PLC of Britain.
`The drug is one of several in development designed to block a protein called EGF receptor that is overabundant in
`many cancers of the lung, breast, head and neck, and prostate. The test results indicated the drug may stabilize diffi-
`cult-to-control tumors, and, in some cases, shrink them significantly.
`"We were able to show that a laboratory concept has relevance to the care of patients," said Mark Kris, a
`lung-cancer specialist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York who helped conduct the trial.
`The drug, brand-named Iressa, inhibits the activity of EGF receptor, a protein that sits on the surface of cancer cells
`and receives messages from growth hormones telling a cell to divide. In some cancers, the tumor cells overproduce
`copies of EGF receptor, which helps lead to the aberrant and relentless growth seen in cancer cells.
`At the science meeting, researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering reported that, in a test of 64 patients with ad-
`vanced stages of cancer, the drug was able to stabilize or reduce tumor size in 15 test subjects. In four patients with lung
`cancer, one of the most difficult of all cancers to treat, the drug caused major tumor shrinkage. All four patients are still
`responding to the drug after several months, the researchers said. This number of responses is considered significant,
`given the extremely low response rate to most treatments for advanced lung cancer.
`Researchers at AstraZeneca hope the drug will have an even more powerful effect when combined with standard
`chemotherapy drugs or radiation. The researchers said Iressa doesn't appear to cause the kind of severe nausea and other
`toxic effects often produced by standard chemotherapy; its side effects are an acne-like facial rash and diarrhea.
`George Blackledge, medical director of oncology for AstraZeneca, said that largescale human tests will begin early
`next year.
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`West-Ward Exhibit 1079
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`Drug Progress on Hard-to-Treat Cancers Is Cited The Wall Street Journal November 17, 1999 Wednesday
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`AstraZeneca is competing with several other companies working on EGF receptor blockers, including Pfizer Inc.
`and ImClone Systems Inc., a small New York biotechnology company.
`Last May, researchers at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston reported that an injectable protein against EGF
`receptor made by ImClone also produced an effect in difficult-to-treat head and neck cancers, when combined with a
`widely used chemotherapy drug. Imclone is now conducting a large trial of the drug, C225. Pfizer said yesterday at an
`analyst meeting in New York that its experimental EGF receptor-blocking drug, CP358,774, was in the second stage of
`human testing for ovarian, lung and head and neck cancer.
`At the science meeting in Washington yesterday, the first of its type to be jointly sponsored by the American Asso-
`ciation of Cancer Research, the U.S. National Cancer Institute and the European Organization for Research and Treat-
`ment of Cancer, researchers also presented promising reports on other cancer-attacking approaches. Several companies
`are targeting cancer-growth factors, such as tyrosine kinase.
`Researchers from the Parker Hughes Cancer Center in St. Paul, Minn. reported results from a small, preliminary
`test showing that a experimental drug, B43Genistein, was active in treating patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia,
`or ALL, that hadn't responded to standard cancer therapy. The researchers said their early study was the first to show
`that blocking so-called tyrosine kinase enzymes, which are part of the same cellgrowth signaling pathway as EGF re-
`ceptor, was useful in treating a leukemia cancer.
`A separate report by researchers in Germany working with American Home Products Corp.'s Wyeth-Ayerst Re-
`search unit, showed that an experimental agent, CCI-779, was well-tolerated. Of 12 patients treated, the drug was able
`to reduce tumor size in three patients with kidney cancers that hadn't responded to previous therapy. The drug blocks the
`action of an enzyme mTOR, that regulates the synthesis of proteins that promote cell division, the researchers said.
`Researchers from Symphar SA, a closely held Swiss drug maker, reported that its experimental drug Apomine ap-
`pears to block tumor growth by inhibiting the action of still another newly found cell-growth protein called FXR. The
`company is co-developing the drug with publicly traded Ilex Oncology Inc., San Antonio.
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`NOTES:
`PUBLISHER: Dow Jones & Company
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`LOAD-DATE: December 5, 2004
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`West-Ward Exhibit 1079
`Langreth WSJ Nov 17 1999
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