Bay State firms could get boost from cancer drugs

A study that reported earlier this week that US drug sales grew at their slowest pace since 1961 may have a silver lining for Massachusetts life sciences companies.

While sales of medications rose a modest 3.8 percent in 2007 to $286.5 billion, sales for cancer drugs grew 14 percent and biotech product sales grew 9 percent, said IMS Health Inc., the health research firm that issued the report.

About a year ago, the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council took a snap-shot of the local life sciences companies that make up its membership.

According to the council, 28 percent of the 1,769 drugs and medical devices in the pipeline of Bay State biotech and pharmaceuticals companies targeted cancer; of the 235 Massachusetts companies involved in developing drugs and medical devices, 92 are active in oncology.

The council also noted that companies headquartered in Massachusetts had 15 cancer drugs approved for marketing.

Just yesterday, Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Cambridge reported promising preliminary results from tests of a drug cocktail that includes Velcade, the blood cancer drug it has co-developed with New Jersey drug maker Johnson & Johnson.

Velcade has already been approved in the United States as a treatment for multiple myeloma patients who have received at least one prior therapy; Millennium is also seeking approval for using Velcade in front-line treatments for multiple myeloma.

Also yesterday, ArQule Inc. of Woburn and Novelos Therapeutics Inc. of Newton made announcements regarding potential treatments for advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

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In an e-mailed statement to the Globe, Massachusetts Biotechnology Council president Robert Coughlin (left) noted that one reason for the local industry's focus on cancer drugs is the presence of major academic institutions and healthcare systems.

"There is no area of investigation that has received greater attention among Massachusetts biotechnology companies than cancer research," Coughlin wrote.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)