RE:RE:RE:RE:I am a bit bipolarI beg to differ. While the focus is all on establishing a clear proof of concept, docetaxel is far from the ultimate weapon against all types of cancers. It is pointless for them at this point to elaborate on the potential use of other cytotoxic agents, but if the proof of concept is clearly established, it will only be the beginning.
I made the comparison with Lutathera just after the acquisition of Katana and it is very important because the peptide approch is the key. It is a natural and very specific approach. Protein-protein, or protein-peptide interactions are the day to day basic language of biochemistry. These interaction are very specific. Small molecule is totally a different thing, it is mostly unspecific, and this is why it is leading to so many side-effects. The problem of peptide as always been its instability to enzymatic degradation, or call it its short half-life. So it is impossible to take something like TH19P01 and compare it generally to other drug candidates. The probability of success is not the same. Also, when analizing the odds of success of drug candidate, you need to take into account how good the people selecting the candidate are at making the right choice. It's like an investor picking stock to invest in. All investors selecting stocks are not equals. Some are better than other, and some are also lucky enough to get a lead about a small company that they have particular skills to understand better than other. I think Marsolais was "lucky" enough and skilled enough with the Katana opportunity. The company was in his backyard, and he had the skills to understand its potential, and he was convinced enough by the opportunity that he was able to convinced his boss, back then, Luc Tanguay, to buy it.
So again, it is a total lack of respect for the expertise at Thera to call this acquisition a lottery ticket. I saw the potential from the get go, and a guy like Marsolais, which is much more competent than me saw it too, with much more informations available to him to make this decision. There is a difference between a lottery ticket and a very well educated guess. I don't know for sure at this point if the proof of concept will be succesful and if this program will end up as a commercial success. But even where it is now, with the FDA fast track at the preclinical stage, it is safe to say that the decision, given the price paid to buy Katana, and the relatively small amount of money invested to push the program up to where it is now, was a very good decision. It was a sound scientific decision. There was enough on the scientific side to invest what has been invested. After that, nothing is sure until it is proven through proper trials, and it is what they are doing now. But the basis of all that was much more than randomly buying a lottery ticket. I said it from day one, and that facts show that decision was part of a sound and competent process.
SPCEO1 wrote: Also, TH-1904 got hardly any mention and Christian said someting like TH-1902 is pretty much the perfect molecule for what they are attempting to do. I got the impression we will not be hearing much about next versions of TH-1902