Santorini, ~ 1984
Sometimes valuable information appears in unexpected
places. For instance, a significant
percentage of Google Alerts on ovarian cancer cite Wall Street-type
publications. Think about it for a
minute and you will quickly understand; cancer-treatment breakthroughs often
lead to profit bonanzas for Big Pharma, or Little Pharma for that matter. The alert investor must be ready to jump.
I mention this because of an article I just read that
appeared in TheStreet.com. It appears
that scientists working for Verastem (presumably part of Little Pharma) have
determined that chemotherapy actually stimulates the activity of cancer
stem cells. This, it seems to me, is a
significant setback.
You know how it goes.
Woman diagnosed with OVCA undergoes debulking surgery, followed by
adjuvant chemo. Remission ensues. However, some months or years later the
cancer returns. Five-year survival rate
is <50%. What are increasingly termed
cancer stem cells are to blame.
Research performed by the Verastem people suggests that, far
from wiping out the CSC, chemo actually invigorates them! This is said to follow from a trial comparing
length of remission in women who had surgery plus chemo with the same for women
who had only surgery. The latter lived
longer. Well, that’s not certain; what
was actually observed was a large increase in unhealthy mutations in the
surgery plus chemo group. Experiments
with mice also showed that chemo was counter-productive.
So, what to say?
What are these freaking CSCs, anyway, and why can’t we
confront them directly?
How many onco-docs would be willing to forego adjuvant
therapy? Damned few, I would guess.
Will Verastem succeed in ongoing efforts to develop drugs
that can kill CSC? And if so……………….
How can we buy its stock?
Here is the article: http://www.streetinsider.com/Corporate+News/Verastem+(VSTM)+Presents+Data+on+Supporting+Preferential+Targeting+of+Ovarian+Cancer+Stem+Cells/11441037.html
And here is an old blog on CSC: http://ljb-quiltcutie.blogspot.com/2012/08/cancer-stem-cells-may-they-rot-int-hell.html
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