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Amgen 2006 Annual Report 17
The understanding of cancer is expanding rapidly, and with this
understanding comes an abundance of potential new avenues
for cancer research. Amgen products have transformed the
treatment of anemia and neutropenia in people undergoing
chemotherapy. As we continue to develop supportive care
therapies to improve the health and lives of cancer patients, we
are also developing innovative targeted therapies to attack cancer
itself. Focusing on seven major areas of cancer research, the
company has many targeted therapies in the pipeline directed
against cancer and serious unmet needs related to cancer,
such as muscle wasting disorders and bone loss induced by
hormone ablation therapy. Behind those, we have more potential
oncology therapeutics in earlier stages of development.
Many cancers, many targets
Cancer is not one disease. Because it can originate in different
cells in the body and because there are many different cellular
pathways involved in its growth, cancer takes hundreds of
different forms. What’s more, as a condition characterized by
mutation, cancer can change course in unpredictable ways.
Tumors may respond to one therapy for a while, then develop
resistance and begin growing and spreading again. That’s the
bad news. The good news is that the first members of a new
generation of cancer drugs that target specific cellular processes
involved in cancer are now available to patients —with many
more on the way. Vectibix™ (panitumumab), approved in 2006,
is “only the first of many targeted therapeutics in our oncology
pipeline,” says Roger M. Perlmutter, executive vice president,
Research and Development.
More in the pipeline
“We are evaluating novel pathways in addition to established
targets,” says Glenn Begley, vice president, Oncology and
Hematology Research. For example, Amgen has a program
called Apo2L/TRAIL, which is being developed in collaboration
with Genentech, Inc. Apo2L/TRAIL is a soluble human protein
involved in the regulation of apoptosis, or programmed cell
death. In addition, Amgen has another molecule that binds to
the TRAIL receptor that has been seen to induce apoptosis in
a variety of transformed human cell lines.
Motesanib diphosphate (formerly identified as AMG 706)
is an oral therapy that targets receptors thought to play a role
in angiogenesis and tumor growth. Broad clinical programs
in a variety of cancers are intended to document the utility of
motesanib diphosphate both as a monotherapy and in
combination with commonly used therapies.
Another therapy, AMG 531, is specifically designed to
target the thrombopoietin receptor, which mediates platelet
production. AMG 531 is being studied for use in several
diseases characterized by inadequate platelet production,
including immune thrombocytopenic purpura, chemotherapy-
induced thrombocytopenia and myelodysplastic syndromes.
Other targets being explored in development programs
include angiopoietin-1 and -2, insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor,
hepatocyte growth factor, and myostatin.
Our pipeline demonstrates our
commitment to developing new
targeted therapeutics for cancer
and other serious illnesses.