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Biotechs developing new treatments for cancer and other serious diseases always face a long shot in reaching for success, but at some point, they must face the biggest question of them all: the drug’s effectiveness.
For companies whose drugs flunk, the consequences can be catastrophic, particularly in this rough economy. Companies can lose hundreds of millions of dollars, face layoffs or acquisition, or even potentially shutter. However, software may be able to help improve their chances.
A couple of Boston-area startup companies are creating modeling systems and applications to help cut down on the failures, while research institutions are also working on the problem. Just a few weeks ago, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute announced plans to open a new Center for Cancer Computational Biology. The facility will provide researchers with additional data analysis and interpretation tools and services.
In February, the University of Rhode Island’s biotechnology center in Providence announced the creation of the Institute for Immunology and Informatics. Researchers will use cutting-edge bioinformatics tools to speed up creation of treatments and cures.
Cancer drug development is especially risky, noted experts, as it requires especially large amounts of cash and time. The success rate is also poor, according to Kenneth Kaitin, director for the Boston-based Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development. Only about 8 percent of oncology treatment candidates make it to the market, he said. One example of a drug that didn’t make it is from Lexington-based Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp., which spent millions of dollars, only to have its cancer drug elesclomal recently fail in the clinical trial stage, resulting in layoffs and calling the drug’s future into question.
One of the startups focused on that area is Boston-based diagnostic service startup Immuneering Corp., which has created a proprietary modeling application. The system can take data gathered from a patient’s blood and tumor samples and determine if certain drugs are likely to activate that patient’s immune system and help recovery. Another startup is Framingham-based Bio-Tree Systems Inc., which is developing a medical imaging application. The software will take computerized tomography scan images and use them to map and analyze complex blood vessel trees and vascular networks at a microscopic level. By analyzing the effects of different drugs in blood vessels of tumors, it could also be used as a way to improve patient treatment and to optimize drug development, said Raul Brauner, Bio-Tree’s co-founder and CEO.
Tentative excitement
Some experts are cautiously optimistic. “This is a very insightful application of computer software to create images from a signal,” said Burt Adelman, a member of the hematology department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He acknowledged Bio-Tree was a very early stage company but said if its technology proves itself, it could be a “very useful adjunct to discovery and early product development. It gives you a very detailed picture of the vasculature in the tumor.”
Jim Shanahan, vice president of anti-angiogenesis drug startup SynDevRx Inc. in Cambridge, said such applications would be helpful to the industry.“We are looking for biomarkers or surrogate measurements of efficacy.” He added that for it to be commercially viable, it would have to be either better than current systems or much easier to use.
Brauner said he was influenced in his thinking by the famous cancer researcher Judah Folkman, who also served as the chairman of Bio-Tree’s scientific advisory board until his death last year. Bio-Tree is also sponsoring some of its research at Brown University in Providence.
Brauner sees wide-ranging applications. Using proprietary algorithms, Bio-Tree’s software could be used to diagnose disorders such as coronary heart disease, many types of cancer, including lung and abdominal cancer, and neurological diseases ranging from thrombotic conditions to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
Brauner explained there is a unique vasculature to diseased areas, and of tumor vasculature in particular, which can offer insights to researchers. Cancer drug development would be the first market, and Brauner estimated up to 30 Boston-area biotechs could benefit from this technology. He anticipates entering pilot mode with select biotech companies in the second half of 2009, and in the second quarter of 2010 expects to turn a profit.
Moreover, the software could enable surgeons to see a patient’s vasculature while they operate, allowing them to avoid damaging blood vessels. Potentially, the firm’s technology could allow the formation of a precise 3-D map of the area around which a surgeon will be operating.
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