Threshold stock sinks on pancreatic cancer survival data

Threshold CEO Barry Selick.

The combination of an experimental drug from Threshold Pharmaceuticals Inc. and chemotherapy helped pancreatic cancer patients live 9.2 months in a mid-stage trial, but that wasn't a statistically significant increase from patients in the chemo-only arm of the study. Still, the South San Francisco-based biotech company (NASDAQ: THLD) said the Phase IIb trial of its drug, called TH-302, was not designed to give a definitive answer on "overall survival." What's more, it said some patients receiving gemcitabine alone were allowed to cross over to the combination therapy if their disease progressed, which contributed to an increase in survival in the chemo-only group.

Threshold dedicates pancreatic cancer drug results to late officer

Dedicating mid-stage drug trial results to its late chief medical officer, Threshold Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Tuesday its experimental treatment for deadly pancreatic cancer passed a significant test.
The South San Francisco company (NASDAQ: THLD) said Tuesday that patients with advanced pancreatic cancer who received a combination of TH-302 and gemcitabine in the Phase IIb trial lived 5.6 months — two months longer than those who got gemcitabine alone.
Threshold stock soared nearly 74 percent by mid-day trading, up $2.61 to $6.14 per share.

Threshold lands $25M upfront, possible $525M more, in cancer drug deal

Threshold Pharmaceuticals Inc. landed a $25 million upfront payment — with the potential of $525 million more in milestone payments — after inking a co-development and commercialization deal with Merck KGaA around an experimental cancer-fighting drug.
Threshold’s TH-302 is in a Phase III trial of patients with soft tissue sarcoma and a Phase II trial of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.
The drug targets oxygen-deprived regions of tumors — so-called “hypoxic domains” — that are tough for drugs to reach effectively without serious side effects. Those regions are more prevalent in fast-growing and aggressive cancers like pancreatic tumors and sarcomas.

Threshold cancer-fighting drug enters critical Phase III trial

Threshold Pharmaceuticals Inc. is set to launch a second Phase III trial of its cancer-fighting drug as it waits for critical data from another study in pancreatic cancer.
Results of the initial study, expected as soon as the end of the year or early 2012, are important for the Redwood City-based drug developer. It is the first randomized, controlled trial of Threshold’s signature drug, TH-302.

Shrinking biotechs peddle space to deal-seekers

Sometimes the search for quality biotech real estate along the Peninsula is simply a waiting game.
As tight venture capital checkbooks, the weak economy and risk-averse capital markets continue to squeeze cash-intensive biotech companies, deals on subleases for even freshly built space can be found.
It’s the proverbial win-win for companies — one sheds costs, the other gets top-drawer space for a fraction of the market price.
Sublease deals are nothing new, but the amount of ready-to-move-in, biotech-centric sublease space is strong for companies jumping into the lease market.

HCP bets on labs, not cubicles, in Redwood City

HCP Inc. is placing a $43 million bet on Redwood City and the conversion of cubicles to labs.
The real estate investment trust in March returned 88,000 square feet of space in Seaport Centre to the market after converting it for biotech or other life sciences companies.

Cancer drug shortages threaten trials

Gearing up for a pivotal late-stage study of its lead tumor-fighting drug, Threshold Pharmaceuticals has checked all the boxes with regulators, investors, doctors and patients.
Yet one nagging question remains: Will it have enough vials of an essential generic chemotherapy drug to last throughout the trial?
Threshold isn’t alone. A national shortage of key generic cancer drugs — often used in combination with treatments like Threshold’s or to provide statistical backdrops in studies — is threatening clinical trials.
The shortfall is forcing a handful of Bay Area drug developers to develop backup plans, including stockpiling supplies.

Growing Threshold, Nodality sublease Exelixis space

Exelixis Inc. is unloading more than 53,000 square feet in South San Francisco to two up-and-coming companies.
Exelixis (NASDAQ: EXEL), which once had a workforce more than 600, said it will sublease 28,180 square feet at 170 Harbor Way to cancer drug maker Threshold Pharmaceuticals Inc. and 25,110 square feet in the same building to Nodality Inc., which is working on clinical tests that can predict cancer and autoimmune diseases.

In time of crisis, Threshold finds strength in life sciences community

With the sudden death April 20 of Dr. John Curd, the Redwood City biotech company’s president and chief medical officer, Threshold (NASDAQ: THLD) was faced with a crisis no company wants to experience. But as news of Curd’s death spread, the Redwood City company was overwhelmed with doctors and others in the biomedical community volunteering to serve as interim chief medical officer.

Biotech veteran and Threshold Pharma president John Curd dies

Longtime Bay Area biotech executive Dr. John Curd, who helped shepherd the Genentech cancer drugs Herceptin and Rituxan through clinical trials and most recently was president and chief medical officer of Threshold Pharmaceuticals Inc., died unexpectedly Wednesday at his home.
Curd, who joined Threshold (NASDAQ: THLD) in October 2007 and oversaw the Redwood City-based company’s clinical development work, apparently died of natural causes, the company said. He was 65.