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Oncothyreon Advances Cancer Drug

Seattle-based Oncothyreon (NASDAQ: ONTY) said it has decided to advance an experimental cancer drug into mid-stage clinical trials in the first half of 2010. The company plans to run two or more trials of PX-866, an oral pill made to block the PI3 Kinase pathway implicated in cancer cell growth. This shift in priorities, from cancer vaccines to cancer drugs which I profiled back in March, was applauded by analyst Simos Simeonidis at Rodman & Renshaw. “The company has not only been transformed into a well-run and very lean operation, but has literally been brought back from the brink of disaster,” Simeonidis wrote in a note to clients.

Luke Timmerman is the National Biotechnology Editor for Xconomy. You can e-mail him at ltimmerman@xconomy.com, call 206-624-2374, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ldtimmerman.

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Dr. Donald Hull
11/13/09 10:31 am

Luke,

“brink of disaster”? Strong words indeed re Oncothyreon. Some sell-side analysts need more patience so promising technology can progress through extended phase 3 trials such as the current Stimuvax work.

Keep up the great reporting.

Don
Luke Timmerman
11/13/09 3:49 pm

Thanks Don. I think Simos was referring to how far the company has come in the past year, which is really a long way. I’m actually thinking about doing another interview with Bob Kirkman pretty soon to try to do a good overview piece. Any questions you’d suggest? Anybody else who want to chime in, now’s a good time to drop me a comment.—Luke