ASH Videos : Bendamustine

The American Society of Heamatology recently had their annual conference. The top experts present were interviewed on various topics, and here are four brief excerpts on Bendamustine.

The first is Keating, looking very relaxed.

Secondly, here is Kipps.

O’Brien, who looks a lot younger than I expected.

Lastly, the old man, Rai. Such a softly spoken man.

These comments were obviously recorded before “Treanda” recieved approval by the FDA very recently. The FDA gave its approval on the basis of recently published clinical trials, comparing Bendamustine with Chlorambucil. Rai seems to be the only one who acknowledges that this “New” drug is in fact decades old. You can read Chaya’s interpretation of the trial results here. I would have liked the unseen interviewer to ask the following question,

“Why do you think that the dosage parameters for the Chlorambucil arm of these trials were far lower than accepted dosage levels for firstline treatment?”

(Chaya notes that - in both clinical trials they managed to test against a less than effective dosage of chlorambucil.)

It is also interesting to note that a few weeks ago, Treanda was approved by the FDA. Cephalon (who sell Treanda in the US) shares soared, and four senior directors of the company made a fortune selling some of their stock.

Big Pharma. Sheesh.