Ahh, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). It may not have the cool gadgets that the Consumer Electronics Show has, but it can affect the stock price of cancer drugmakers all the same. The meeting kicks off tomorrow; here's some things to keep an eye on.
Going for gold
Bayer and Onyx Pharmaceuticals'
There will be more than 65 studies about Nexavar at ASCO, but the one to keep your eye on is the phase 2 study in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Survival data wasn't available when the abstract was submitted, but markers for the progression of the disease and how well the drug is working both looked good. 76% of patients didn't see their cancer get worse after six weeks on the drug and it appears that Nexavar is working by cutting off the blood supply to the tumor.
Looking for rubies to add to the gold
The makers of Gemzar, Avastin, and Tarceva already have blockbusters, but that doesn’t mean that they're sitting on their gold stashes; each drug has presentations at ASCO that will try and increase their usage.
Eli Lilly
Results from Genentech's Ribbon trial testing Avastin in breast cancer will be presented. The Food and Drug Administration has already approved it to treat breast cancer, so this is essentially a chance for Roche -- Genentech's new owner -- to advertise the drug to doctors.
The most interesting of the three to watch may be Roche's and OSI Pharmaceuticals'
Would settle for silver or perhaps somebody else's gold
Investors are excited about Exelixis'
OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals
Keep your eye on the wires
Investors not headed to ASCO will need to keep an eye on the news wires this weekend to get reports of the full results of these trials. And check back Monday for a Foolish recap.
More Foolishness while you wait:
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