Thank You, Martha Stewart

Not only for the paint color "sea foam," though we have used it extensively in our house and love it. The walls take on the weather outside -- when it is stormy, they are grey, when it is bright, they are bright.

Actually, I wanted to thank you for your investment in Dr. Sam Waksal's ImClone. Thanks to you and other investors, Dr. Waksal was able to develop an impressive treatment for cancer, Erbitux. The WSJ reports (paid link) that it has now shown efficacy in a certain type of lung cancer.

In a statement, the companies said that a Phase III clinical trial showed that patients with advanced lung cancer taking Erbitux in combination with the chemotherapy regimen cisplatin and vinorelbine had a higher overall survival rate than those taking just chemotherapy alone. The companies did not immediately say how much longer the patients lived.

ImClone and Bristol-Myers are testing Erbitux for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer, the most common type of the deadly disease. Erbitux is already approved to treat colorectal, head and neck cancers.

The companies said they plan to present more detailed results of the clinical trial, which was run by partner Merck KGaA at a future medical conference.

Oh, and Ms. Stewart, I'm very sorry that my government prosecuted you and Dr. Waksal for developing this life saving compound and participating in an efficient capital market. Please know that that was not my idea.

I'm also sorry for the tens of thousands who have died in the last two years from cancers that might have been ameliorated with Erbitux. The same government decided that the "arrogant" Dr. Waksal needed to jump through some extra hoops and be taken down a peg. That was not my idea either.

Pharmaceuticals Posted by jk at September 11, 2007 11:13 AM