Genentech's Avastin Might Renew Interest in Tumor Battle

Promising but early results from an experimental Genentech(DNA Quote) cancer drug are reigniting interest in a novel way to kill tumors by cutting off their food supply.

Solid tumors need blood to live and grow, so they release growth factors that encourage the formation of new blood vessels from which they can feed, a process called angiogenesis. Medical researchers have long hypothesized that if a drug could be developed to block angiogenesis from occurring, tumors would be starved of blood and die, or at least stop growing.

Theory, of course, doesn't actually help patients dying of cancer. More than 40 biotech firms are experimenting with various "antiangiogenesis" drugs, with none even close to approval so far. In fact, one such company, EntreMed(ENMD Quote), has the ignominious distinction of hyping -- through a front-page New York Times story in 1998 -- one of the biggest duds in biotech investment history. ...