The acquisition of Cougar Biotechnology Inc. by Johnson & Johnson seems to be a great success leading to promising outcomes in the treatment of prostate cancer in men. Late in 2010, J&J halted its Phase III clinical trial of its novel drug candidate, abiraterone acetate, which was originally studied by the analysts and scientists at Cougar Biotechnology. It is well known that Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald, along with his team of specialists in the biotechnology sector, invested in the first trial stages of abiraterone. The first clinical trial of abiraterone showed great success and promising results; therefore Lindsay Rosenwald funded Cougar Biotechnology and promoted indirectly the development of this drug and its further acquisition by Johnson & Johnson. Because interim analysis of the Phase III demonstrated good results, it was suggested that the company revealed the data and allowed the patients treated with placebo to take abiraterone. In October, the company is going to reveal the exact numbers and the time abiraterone can prolong lives. This data will be shared at a scientific meeting, which will take place in Milan. If the drug has statistically larger survival in prostate cancer patients, this will be enough for abiraterone to get approval, given the poor prognosis for those men, who failed Taxotere treatment offered by Sanofi-Aventis.
Sanofi is going to file marketing applications for it's another drug, Cabazitaxel. However, it is still difficult to compare the drug with abiraterone. Patients treated with Cabazitaxel lived median 15.1 months. That time the drug was compared to Novantrone, a product by OSI Pharmaceuticals and EMD Serono. J&J compared its abiraterone plus the steroid prednisone treatment to prednisone alone.
It doesn't matter what drug hits the leading position, since it is the fact that the sales of Provenge (a drug by Dendreon) won't be affected. The drug was developed as an aid to the immune system and is commonly used in patients with castrate-resistant prostate cancer, whose disease progressed in spite of their hormonal therapy. Both these drugs are going to be used when patients fail their Taxotere treatment. Provenge is most likely to be used in these cases, too.
Since prostate cancer is considered to be the disease, which is very difficult to treat, abiraterone may be a good option for patients. Investors, like Lindsay Rosenwald, MD, have already noticed prospects of this drug and invested in its research and development giving more survival chances to men with prostate cancer.
