Biogen Idec walking away from its cancer franchise. What (new drugs) may be lost in shakeup.

Yesterday's big announcement by Biogen Idec to disinvest itself from its cancer franchise (and shut down San Diego site) got me thinking what else was in the pipeline and preclinical programs which may (probably) never see the light of a doctor's office.  Was there an Avastin-like blockbuster sitting on a shelf somewhere?  Hopefully, some of the programs will be licensed off to someone with deep pockets or belief in it.  It can happen here in San Diego and some star molecules may emerge! [...][...]

Five year anniversary of Nexavar® (sorafenib) approval by FDA

In about two months, five days before Christmas, sorafenib will celebrate five years of approval by the FDA.  When it was approved on December 20th, 2005, for advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC), it was the first (and is so far the only) approved drug to target B-Raf kinase, a signaling component of the MAPK pathway.  Since then it has also been approved for Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC).