Colon cancer drug seen as long-awaited victory

The first drug to emerge from a Harvard surgeon's 34-year crusade for a new class of cancer treatments is expected to win approval within weeks from the Food and Drug Administration, validating a field of research that now embraces more than 35 diseases ranging from Alzheimer's to psoriasis, researchers said.

The milestone of Avastin's approval for colon cancer treatment, researchers said, could be swiftly followed by other drugs for cancer and severe eye diseases based on the principle -- blocking the growth of new blood vessels -- that Dr. Judah Folkman first proposed in 1970.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2004/02/26/colon_cancer_drug_seen_as_long_awaited_victory/


Understanding Angiogenesis

http://press2.nci.nih.gov/sciencebehind/angiogenesis/angio04.htm

I'm very happy for Dr. Judah Folkman, on his three decades of work on angiogenesis. Many had disbelief about his theory of how cancer grows. Now that we have Avastin approved, he has been vindicated. We can all benefit from his work and that of others.