Amgen to introduce six new cancer drugs

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. Next week, Amgen will provide preliminary drug data on six new cancer drugs that it is developing, according to Bloomberg. The presentation will be made at the American Association for Cancer Research’s annual meeting.

The medicines are designed to attack tumors through three of the most popular approaches in cancer research today. One drug, called AMG-386, cuts off blood flow to tumors like Genentech’s Avastin, which had $2.3 billion in U.S. sales last year. The Amgen treatment is designed to block more proteins that lead to blood vessel formation than Avastin does alone.

Another experimental drug, AMG-655, provokes cancer cells to destroy themselves. A third treatment, AMG-479, blocks a chemical signal that allows tumor cells to grow uncontrollably.

The six drug candidates, five of which were generated internally, are being tested in more than 30 clinical trials under way or planned, Amgen said.

The market for cancer drugs has doubled in the past four years, and will be worth $67 billion worldwide in 2012, according to research firm Decision Resources.