GSK to launch five new drugs to tackle cancer

GlaxoSmithKline, Europe's biggest drug-maker, is to launch five cancer drugs in the next three years as it increases its exposure to a lucrative £20bn market.

The company, which has taken a hit in recent weeks after its diabetes drug Avandia was linked to an increased risk of heart attacks, has also unveiled plans to enrol the first patients in its lung-cancer vaccine trial, which will begin in September. Glaxo is competing with Germany's Merck to produce the first lung-cancer vaccine and will commence the largest late-stage study of a treatment for the disease, which kills around 1.3 million people worldwide each year.

The five new oncology products set for launch by 2010 are the cervical cancer vaccine Cervarix; the renal cancer drug Pazopanib; Promacta, an oral compound to help cancer patients build up their platelet count and reduce bleeding; Rezonic, which helps to control symptoms associated with chemotherapy such as nausea; and Ofatumumab, an antibody to treat leukaemia which has blockbuster potential.

Glaxo's head of research and development, Moncef Slaoui, called the target "an unprecedented objective for a pharmaceutical company". He said Glaxo was developing late-stage medicines in more than 12 types of cancer and had a significant number of compounds in early-stage discovery.

Glaxo aims to establish itself as a major player in the oncology market, which is growing by 20 per cent annually.

Recent developments at Glaxo have been overshadowed by the furore surrounding Avandia. Shares have lost 10 per cent of their value since a study in the New England Journal of Medicine in May linked the drug, the firm's second best seller, to an increased risk of heart attack. Although Glaxo disputes the findings, sales and prescriptions of the drug have been hit. Analysts have remained positive on the stock owing to the potential of the pipeline and said the share price fall due to the Avandia scare will prove to be excessive.

Julien Dormois, health and life science analyst at Bryan Garnier, said Avandia remains a blockbuster and the impact of falling sales has already been priced in. He added: "It is becoming clearer and clearer that Glaxo may become the second major force for oncology worldwide behind Roche."

For Glaxo's lung cancer trial, 2,200 patients diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer, the most common form of the disease, will be treated with the vaccine. It is hoped the vaccine may prevent the cancer from returning following surgery and will enable patients to live longer by helping their immune systems to recognise and destroy cancer cells. Lung cancer has one of the lowest survival rates, with 85 per cent of patients dying within five years.

source:www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk