Large & Small-Cap Companies Making Big Strides In The Fight Against Cancer

By: AllPennyStocks.com News

October 16, 2009
Much has been accomplished in the fight against a number of cancers, and more and more breakthroughs are being achieved every day. In this, the month in which we recognize that fight – and recognize that much more remains to be done before the scourge of cancer is eradicated – we shine the spotlight on three different companies aiming their resources at winning that war.

And it truly is a war, for cancer in all its forms is the leading cause of death in the United States behind heart disease, and will claim more than half a million lives this year. Even so, what we tend to tar with the brush known as “cancer” are in fact dozens of different diseases -- all characterized by an abnormal and unregulated growth of cells. This growth destroys surrounding body tissues and may spread to other parts of the body in a process that is known as metastasis. The most notorious and deadly of these cancers affects the breast, and is one of the great killers of women in our society.

Breast cancer happens when cells in the breast tissue divide and grow in an uncontrolled manner, becoming a cancerous ("malignant") tumor. About 20% of breast cancers start in the glands that produce milk, also called "lobules." About 80% start in the milk passages that connect the lobules and the nipple, called "ducts." Cancerous tumors in the breast usually grow very slowly. By the time one is large enough to be felt as a lump, it may have been growing for as long as 10 years.

Enter OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:OSIP), a company based out of Melville, New York, whose flagship product, Tarceva®, is a small molecule inhibitor of the epidermal growth factor receptor, or EGFR, and the only such inhibitor to have demonstrated the ability to improve overall survival in certain advanced cancers. The company also claims an emerging oncology pipeline of molecular-targeted therapies in clinical and late-stage pre-clinical development.

One OSI rival, however, Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY), has boldly and emphatically claimed progress against metastatic breast cancer through a revolutionary product known as Gemzar, available through injection, which, in combination with the chemotherapy drug paclitaxel is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer after they have received another type of chemotherapy called an anthracycline, unless their medical condition did not allow them to receive the latter treatment.

Patients who received the GEMZAR-paclitaxel combination in clinical studies showed significant improvement in the time it took for the disease to advance or progress. The studies also demonstrated that more patients responded to the GEMZAR plus paclitaxel treatment (resulting in tumor shrinkage) than patients who received paclitaxel alone. The treatment does not come without side effects, such as fatigue, nausea, and vomiting. Another group of side effects, such as those that change your blood cells, are monitored through regular blood tests, but also through patients experiencing signs and symptoms. Lilly claims most side effects are temporary. LLY is at work on a wide variety of drugs and treatments for an equally wide variety of ailments, like multiple sclerosis, diabetes, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and Alzheimer's disease.

Returning to the war against cancer, however, a company out of the Boston area is emerging out of the pack and claiming to have trumped both of its above-mentioned rivals. Cellceutix Corp. (OTCBB:CTIX), a bio-pharmaceutical company in the business of developing small molecule therapies in areas of unmet medical need, whose primary efforts are in cancer and inflammatory disease. Much emphasis has been placed on the company’s lead product, Kevetrin™, which is being developed to fight drug-resistant cancers, something beyond the abilities of LLY and OSIP’s products.

Kevetrin was discovered by the Company's founder, Dr. Krishna Menon, and has been studied extensively, demonstrating potent anti-cancer activity against various cancer cell lines. Kevetrin's recent success in a series of animal model experiments with drug-resistant cancer cell lines has galvanized CTIX to focus on Kevetrin's development potential in this area. Kevetrin demonstrated success in more than 5,000 small animal tests, achieving significant delays in tumor growth compared to controls in breast, lung and colon cancer tumors.

CTIX announced late last month it had successfully completed animal model tests on a taxane-resistant, estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer human cell line, MDA-MB-435s, using Kevetrin. Tests showed that tumor volume was reduced by 72% and tumor growth was delayed by more than 52% with Kevetrin when compared with paclitaxel (Taxol) or with cisplatin.

In mid-October, the company announced that it presented a poster and that Dr. Menon, the company president, was one of only four individuals on an expert panel discussion at an American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting in Boston last week. The Company's poster describes in vitro and in vivo research on Kevetrin. Menon has more than 35 years in drug development for academia and industry, including six years in a commanding position for Eli Lilly.

Earlier this month, it was pointed out that Cellceutix CEO George Evans had been General Counsel for Pfizer's worldwide prescription drug unit before ending his career at Pfizer to lead CTIX in the development of its pharmaceutical compounds. To further research, a patent application was filed by the Company for Kevetrin last May.

Companies such as Cellceutix are also doing research in lung cancer due to the high incidence of lung cancer and poor survival rates, which create a high level of medical need. During a recent interview, George Evans stated that the Company is hopeful that they will commence human trials for Kevetrin next year.

Whether it’s the fact that most investors have still not heard of this Company, the stock price finds itself around 55 cents at the time of this report.

All in all, Companies such as the ones mentioned above, are all doing their part to fight against a disease that continues to plague us as a society, particularly its women. Cancer will hopefully one day be a beatable disease, and Companies such as these are currently humanity’s front lines against this historic medical battle.

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