Integrin Antagonists is The Industry in Despair?

Sale of anti-angiogenic agents for the treatment of cancer has been estimated to range between $1 Billion and $3 Billion by 2011. With the approval of drugs such as Glivec (Gleevec), Avastin, Iressa and soon Erbitux this is probably not an understatement. Glivec alone generated 1.1 billion USD in revenues during 2003. The indications that have been suggested to benefit the most from angiogenesis-based therapies include non-small-cell lung, colorectal and breast cancer. BioSeeker Group has identified 23 different anti-cancer therapeutic candidates under development that all target integrins. Even thou progress has been made among R&D projects utilizing integrin antagonist strategies some industry representatives look upon the field with despair.

(PRWEB) January 29, 2004 --Many of the cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix interactions are mediated by protein ligands and the integrin receptors. Many studies have shown that these interactions play an important role in many physiological conditions. Agents, which can selectively inhibit these interactions, are predictably useful for the treatment of a number of diseases including cancer.
Today there are an approximately 20 factors characterized to be pro-angiogenetic. To counter this activity and to keep angiogenesis under control, humans produce a series of factors that inhibit the growth of endothelial cells. Since development of a blood supply is believed to be a crucial step before a tumor can reach a certain size these therapies seek to affect the tumor by targeting angiogenesis and neovascularisation by inhibiting new blood vessel growth or aim at destruction of already existing tumor vasculature. The change that is necessary is a shift that favors angiogenic factor dominance over antiangiogenic factors.

Integrins can be a tricky target to work with, since its general expression decreases its specificity towards tumor cells. Alpha-6 beta-4 and alpha-3 beta-1 integrins seem to be of major importance for vascolar endothelian cell migration, while alpha-v beta-3 or alpha-v beta-5 could be to general as a cancer targets".
In BioSeeker Groups latest study Cancer Highlights Integrin Antagonists is The Industry in Despair?" BioSeeker Group has evaluated the efforts to develop anti-cancer integrin antagonist candidates and carefully identified the majority of therapeutic candidates utilizing this strategy.

Integrin antagonists as anti-cancer thrapeutics have not seen the progress you expect. Is the industry is shifting focus towards other strategies to inhibit vascolar endothelian cell growth?

For more information on this study or others please contact us at bioinfo@bioseeker.com

BioSeeker Group is an independent, privately owned company based in Sweden. We focus on business, competitive intelligence in biotech and life science and operate in two business areas: consulting and publishing. Our mission is to excel our customer's business operations by objective and unbiased research and analysis.
www.BioSeeker.com
###