Cell Therapeutics Downplays Drug's Heart Risks

A dramatic mid-day stock halt and a deftly worded press release can't disguise the fact that Cell Therapeutics'(CTIC) chemotherapy drug pixantrone is causing significant heart toxicity.

I'm in awe of Jim Bianco, Cell Therapeutics' CEO. Placing a halt on the trading of his stock just before 2 pm EDT in order to issue a press release on a pixantrone poster presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting was a brilliant piece of gamesmanship.

The press release was no less a work of art, so hats off to Cell Therapeutics' PR chieftain Dan Eramian. He managed to weave about 15% new data (some of not so positive) with 85% old news but still made pixantrone look like the most effective and least heart toxic chemotherapy drug ever invented.

Cell Therapeutics' shares zoomed up 67 cents, or 47%, to $2.10 once the trading halt was lifted, so the plan clearly worked.

Unfortunately, Bianco and his team can't do anything to change the underlying safety problems with pixantrone, which are apparent to anyone who downloads and reads the actual poster of the pixantrone data that was displayed this afternoon at the ASCO meeting in Orlando, Fla.

Cell Therapeutics has provided a link, so you can download the pixantrone poster here.

As a reminder, pixantrone belongs to a class of effective cancer medicines called anthracylines. Dosing of anthracyclines is limited, however, because the drugs cause heart damage that can lead to congestive heart failure.