Cancer Drug

EntreMed Inc. said yesterday that it had moved one of its three top anti-tumor drugs into a more advanced stage of testing in people and announced that it had renewed a key agreement with the Boston laboratory of renowned cancer researcher Dr. Judah Folkman. But, as has been the case for the Rockville company for much of the past two years, investors seemed to want more good news. Never mind that EntreMed has three drugs in eight clinical trials, up from no drugs in trials in mid-1999.

Shares of EntreMed Inc., no stranger to volatility, continued on a three-day tear yesterday that left them 48 percent higher than they were at the end of last week. The gains came as scientists prepared to release results, in two weeks, of the first tests in patients of EntreMed's highly publicized experimental cancer drug Endostatin. EntreMed said two weeks ago that it had extended a contract for manufacturing the drug, ensuring that there will be enough on hand for a second round of testing in humans.

EntreMed Inc. reported yesterday that its second-quarter loss rose nearly 64 percent over last year as revenue decreased, but the Rockville company said it has ample means to continue testing its three experimental cancer-fighting drugs in people. The company's quarterly net loss was $13.1 million, or 84 cents a share, compared with a loss of just over $8 million, or 61 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue fell to $866,941, compared with $1.3 million in the 1999 second quarter. EntreMed spokeswoman Mary Sundeen said the decline in revenue primarily reflects the end of payments from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., which had an agreement with EntreMed to develop the cancer-fighting protein Angiostatin but has since relinquished those rights back to EntreMed.

WASHINGTON - In an effort to save money for Medicare, the Clinton administration is planning to cut payments for anti-cancer drugs administered to patients in doctors' offices. This could affect hundreds of thousands of elderly patients. The move has provoked an outcry from patients, doctors, nurses and members of Congress, who say the cuts will make it financially impossible for many cancer specialists to provide chemotherapy in their offices. Donna E. Shalala, the secretary of health and human services, says the cuts are justified because Medicare, the federal health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, is paying too much for the drugs - far more than doctors pay for many of the medicines.

Mary Sundeen knew there was going to be trouble as soon as she fired up her home computer at 6 a.m. Thursday to check the headlines. There, quoted on a newspaper's Web site, EntreMed Inc.'s chief spokeswoman saw that a government researcher appeared to be knocking the effectiveness of the company's highly touted cancer drug. Several hours later, EntreMed's stock opened the day in a virtual freefall, touching the lives of far more people than just the shareholders who had purchased it. An analyst in Los Angeles skipped lunch, scarfing Power Bars between phone calls, to counsel investors.

Rockville-based EntreMed Inc. scrambled yesterday to calm the fears of investors and cancer patients after a researcher involved in overseeing human testing of the company's cancer drug said he had seen "no major clinical" response in patients. EntreMed shares dived more than 30 percent on investor fears that the highly touted drug Endostatin would not reduce the size of tumors in people the way it had in mice. The company's shares lost $12.625 to close at $28.875. Both the company and the National Cancer Institute senior investigator whose remarks set off the fervid response - Dr. James Pluda - responded yesterday by saying Phase I trials are only used to determine whether drugs are safe in people.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave Rockville-based EntreMed Inc. the green light yesterday to begin human studies of Angiostatin, its widely touted experimental anti-cancer drug EntreMed shares, however, took a hit as technology investors grew jittery, and an analyst downgraded his recommendation on the stock. EntreMed closed down $4.125, or 9.5 percent, at $39.25. Shares traded as high as $69.50 on Jan. 20., their 52-week high. Yesterday's market reaction was in contrast to what occurred in May 1998 when shares in the small biotechnology outfit skyrocketed 330 percent in one day after a front-page Sunday New York Times article portrayed the protein behind the drug as a potential "cure" for cancer.

PUTTING Maryland's multi-year tobacco-settlement money to good use is harder than it sounds.In other states, the cash has been earmarked to lower taxes, build roads or increase college scholarships. That's not what the tobacco industry's "blood money," as some have called it, was intended for.Maryland Gov. Parris N. Glendening has wisely set forth a vision for making this state healthier by dedicating at least $1 billion of the tobacco settlement money to programs that aim to cure cancer, stem cigarette smoking and reduce drug abuse.

Darrell Putman wants everyone to know he is not a worn-out hippie.He was a Green Beret. He's a registered Republican and a prosperous western Howard County horse farm owner. And he has never owned a tie-dyed shirt. Putman, 49, explains all this while sitting on the couch in his living room and tugging on the tubes attached to his arm.It's important that people know his past, his love of his country and his conservative political views. Otherwise, they will probably dismiss his proposal, which has gained the support of the Howard County Farm Bureau as well as a Republican state legislator, to decriminalize marijuana for medical purposes.

EntreMed Inc. said yesterday that it raised $25 million to help pay for development of three experimental anti-cancer drugs.On Tuesday the Rockville-based biotechnology company announced that it had won approval from the Food and Drug Administration to begin testing its Endostatin protein on humans, with trials expected to begin in September.The $25 million will be used in part for trials of Endostatin, but will largely go toward studying two other anti-cancer drugs that are in a much earlier stage of development.