Will Targeted Therapies Work ... Video Transcript

Webcast Transcript

Rituximab is targeted at one that has the technical name of CD20 and is shared across many different kinds of lymphocytes, but closely restricted to lymphocytes.

Campath is directed at a different surface characteristic or bump that is shared across not only lymphocytes, but other different types of blood cells. And so, although restricted to a small number of cells, the Campath antibody does have effects on some of the cells we aren't targeting it towards, and we have to allow for that affect and the possible side effects that may come with it.

BRET SCOTT: And Dr. Rai, what about side effects?

KANTI RAI, MD: Well, side effects with the rituximab are somewhat of a lesser magnitude than side effects with Campath. Campath is an antibody which kills all lymphocytes, whether they are B-cells or T-cells. In CLL, as you perhaps know, that it is the B-cells that we are trying to kill, because those are the malignant cells. But the T-cells we don't have to kill, but Campath does not discriminate between Bs and Ts, so they kill all the cells and thereby renders a person's immune system much more vulnerable to opportunistic infections, such as pneumonias and blood infections.

As far as other immediate effects or concerns, both the drugs -- Campath and Rituxan -- do cause some degree of shaking, chills and fever and drop in blood pressure, when a body, when a patient's body first is exposed to either one of these drugs. But with continued use, the body gets adjusted to this and subsequent use that problem is reduced markedly.

BRET SCOTT: Dr. Connors, does adding chemotherapy to these targeted approaches increase the side effects?

JOSEPH M. CONNORS, MD, FRCPC: Well, it's an exciting area of research to add these together, because the antibodies and the chemotherapy can interact with each other and boost the effectiveness of each other. As we do this, we monitor patients carefully to see if any new or unexpected side effects or toxicity develops. So far, that hasn't been a problem. In large part because the antibodies have different kinds of side effects than traditional chemotherapy, and patients can actually tolerate the combination of these two side effects without them adding together.

BRET SCOTT: Dr. Rai, what is the ultimate goal of these targeted approaches? Can they cure CLL?

KANTI RAI, MD: Well, that is our aim, and that is our objective, but I would be overstating the case that these combinations will get us to that endpoint. But, in my view, the combination of both of these antibodies along with chemotherapy, in some form or another -- as time goes on, we will find out -- will aid us in significantly better overall treatment for CLL patients than we have been able to deliver to those patients for the last three or four decades.

BRET SCOTT: Dr. Connors, your closing thoughts?

JOSEPH M. CONNORS, MD, FRCPC: We continue to work, I think, in an increasingly exciting era of the treatment of cancers. Understanding the basic biology, identifying specific targets that cancer cells uniquely express and developing the therapeutic -- the treatment tools to go after these cancer cells with these specifically targeted treatments is a sea change compared to the first twenty years I spent in this field and adds to the excitement and the anticipation that these treatments will be gradually turning into effective curative ways of getting rid of the cancer.

BRET SCOTT: Dr. Connors, Dr. Rai, thank you so much for joining us and enjoy the meeting.

And thank you for watching our webcast. I'm Bret Scott.

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