Abstract
Oncogenomics: The Future of Cancer Care analyzes the key advances and
challenges associated with translating research efforts into successful,
clinically meaningful therapeutic products. The emergence of oncogenomics
promises a new era of cancer care. Over the next decade or so, biomedical
researchers hope to have fully catalogued all genetic alterations associated
with cancer, greatly expanding the number of "druggable" anticancer molecular
targets.
Oncogenomics has already seen clinical and market success with a handful of
"first-generation" oncogenomic therapeutics such as Herceptin, raising hope
and expectations that safer and more effective patient-selected targeted
therapeutics will revolutionize cancer therapy and transform cancer into a
manageable chronic disease. While patient-selected genomic-based therapy has
only recently emerged as a viable clinical practice, many experts argue that
it will become crucial not just in clinical practice but as an integral
component of targeted drug development.
However, despite the early success stories of Herceptin and Gleevec, many
leaders in the field are cautious about the extent to which genomics will
truly impact cancer care over the next 10 to 15 years. Employing the right
tools, technologies, and strategies will be crucial to realizing the clinical
and marketplace opportunities stemming from the burgeoning growth of
oncogenomics. Oncogenomics: The Future of Cancer Care offers insightful
evaluation of the following key challenges to achieving this goal and examines
current approaches to addressing these issues:
- Preclinical drug candidate screening needs to be more predictive in order
to increase the chance that a targeted drug entering clinical trials will
succeed.
- Patient selection needs to be integrated into targeted drug development
and clinical practice.
- Many pharmaceutical companies remain resistant to the patient-selected
targeted drug model.
- Not all of the targets yielded by the Human Genome Project are "druggable"
and it is extremely difficult to determine which genes associated with cancer
are consequences, not causes, of cancer.
- Most tumors involve multiple mutations, which could translate into
multiple pathways.
This report also:
- Evaluates important questions about the potential medical and revenue
benefits of targeted cancer drugs that are not being realized.
- Provides an overview of the early success stories of patient-selected
targeted therapeutics and highlights promising targeted therapeutics in
development.
- Explores the scientific arguments for patient-selected clinical
development, discusses the disincentives and challenges to patient-selected
therapy, and examines the economics of patient-selected trials.
- Highlights key technologies used to discover cancer-associated genetic
variation and gene expression patterns, and discusses the way in which the
tools and technologies advanced by the HGP have improved this discovery
process. Some of the key in vitro and animal model technologies being used to
functionally test and "validate" (i.e., preclinically) these discoveries are
summarized.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1. Cancer as a Genetic Disease
- 1.1. The Genetic Basis of Cancer
- 1.2. Cancer Statistics: Mortality Has Decreased, but the Number of New
Cases Is Increasing Cancer Survivor Care
- 1.3. What Are Molecularly Targeted Drugs?
- 1.4. Target Selection versus Patient Selection
- 1.5. The Future of Cancer Care
- Parallels between Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency
Syndrome and Cancer Care
- 1.6. The Diagnostic Potential of Druggable Targets
Chapter 2. Targeted Therapies: Early Success Stories and Promising
Candidates
- 2.1. Small Molecule Drugs
- Gleevec (Imatinib): Approved 2001
- Iressa (Gefitinib): Approved May 2003
- Tarceva (Erlotinib): Approved November 2004
- Promising Small Molecule Drugs in Development
- 2.2. Hypomethylating Agents
- Azacitidine
- Decitabine and Zebularine
- 2.3. Immunotherapeutic Intervention: Antibodies and Vaccines
- Therapeutic Monoclonal Antibodies
- Rituxan (Rituximab)
- Herceptin (Trastuzumab)
- Immunoconjugates
- Avastin (Bevacizumab)
- Cancer Vaccines
Chapter 3. Toward Targeted Therapies: Preclinical Discovery Technology
- 3.1. Finding the Cancer Gene: Discovery Technology
- Comparative Genomic Hybridization (CGH)
- Array CGH
- 3.2. The Human Genome Project
- Advances in Sequencing Technology: Digital Karyotyping as an Example
- Accelerated Drug Discovery
- 3.3. Oncogenomic Diagnostic Testing: Gene Expression Technology
- Transcription Profiling Technology
- Oncogenomics Normal Tissue Database
- 3.4. Proteomics and Cancer Care
- 3.5. Preclinical Validation: Screening Cancer Genes
Chapter 4. Patient-Selected Targeted Drugs in the Clinic: Opportunities and
Challenges
- 4.1. The Gleevec Paradigm: From Skepticism to Iressa
- 4.2. The Importance of Patient Selection: A Scientific Argument
- 4.3. The Small-Size Advantage of Patient-Selected Trials
- 4.4. How to Design Patient-Selected Clinical Trials
- 4.5. Sample Acquisition as a Major Barrier to Patient-Selected Research
- 4.6. Lessons about Sample Acquisition from Past Attempts to Individualize
Cancer Chemotherapy
- 4.7. Patient Selection from the Patient, Physician, and Payer Perspective:
Disincentives
Chapter 5. The Business of Oncogenomics: Challenges and Opportunities
- 5.1. Public and Academic Involvement in Translational Research
- 5.2. The Potential Financial Rewards of a Patient-Selected Tiered Market
- Expanding Indications for Targeted Drugs
- Drug Safety
- The Scientific Counterargument
- 5.3. The Molecular Diagnostics Industry
- Patient-Selected Molecular Diagnostics
Chapter 6. Expert Interviews
- Charles Brenner, PhD, Dartmouth Medical School; Coeditor (with David
Duggan), Oncogenomics: Molecular Approaches to Cancer
- Walter P. Carney, PhD, Oncogene Science (part of Bayer HealthCare)
- Nicholas C. Dracopoli, PhD, Vice President of Clinical Discovery
Technology, Pharmaceutical Research Institute, Bristol-Myers Squibb
- Geoffrey Duyk, MD, PhD, Managing Director, Texas Pacific Group Ventures
- Michael L. Salgaller, PhD, Toucan Capital Corporation
- Herman Spolders, PhD, Chief Executive Officer, OncoMethylome Sciences
Chapter 7. Company Profiles
- Abgenix, Inc.
- ArtisOptimus, Inc.
- Dendreon Corporation
- Genomic Health, Inc.
- ImClone Systems, Inc.
- Medarex, Inc.
- OncoMethylome Sciences, Inc.
- Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
- OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
- Spectral Genomics, Inc.
- Vivo Biosciences, Inc.
Notes
Glossary
Index