Biotech companies large and small prefer to call San Diego home. Companies specializing in cancer research on Torrey Pines mesa have more than doubled in number over the last two years.

“We have seen a large growth in the number of venture capital firms,” says Joe Panetta, president and CEO of Biocom, San Diego’s biotechnology industry association. “Biogen Idec opened its research and development facility and a (venture capital) arm here, as did Amgen. With Genentech moving here, we can safely say that we’re the only city in the world that has representation from all three big biotech companies, plus a host of large pharmaceutical firms.”

Companies locate here for many reasons. One is the ability to work with local hospitals on clinical trials. Dan Gold, Favrille founder and chief scientific officer, calls San Diego an intellectual capital. Although from the Bay Area, Gold settled in San Diego and established his company here because of its proximity to universities and research institutions like Scripps, Burnham and Salk.

Panetta is pleased by how it all works together. “Our companies and research institutions are looking at all aspects of cancer, from large indications with lots of patients like lung cancer, to much smaller diseases with a small subset of patients,” he says. “Finding patients to be in trials is always difficult, and there are benefits to looking at both large or small indications. In large indications, there are lots of available patients who want to be on clinical trials, while in small indications, you typically have less expert doctors to call on to help enroll patients.”

The following is a list of biotech companies with cancer research activities in San Diego:

ActivX Biosciences: The new company seeks to discover and develop highly selective small molecule drugs for major unmet medical needs. ActivX identifies target and off-target activities of drug candidates in the protein kinase and protease families with an initial focus on four areas, including cancer. (activx.com)

Adventrx Pharmaceuticals: Focused on introducing new technologies, Adventrx Pharmaceuticals works to improve the performance and safety of existing drugs by addressing problems such as drug metabolism, toxicity and resistance. It is conducting Phase III clinical trials with CoFactor, a first line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. (adventrx.com)

Althea Technologies: A provider of contract services to the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, Althea helps with prioritizing drug candidates, manufacturing and filling clinical products. It’s eXpress Profiling technology is being used to help diagnose multiple childhood cancers. (altheatech.com)

Angstrom Pharmaceuticals: With its A6 treatment showing in early studies the ability to prevent metastases and inhibit tumor growth, Angstrom went into Phase II studies in June 2004 with A6 to determine whether injections of its drug are helping ovarian cancer patients. (angstrominc.com)

AntiCancer Inc.: With six patents covering the use of fluorescent proteins, AntiCancer is working on non-invasive imaging technology that genetically incorporates fluorescent proteins from jellyfish, corals and other bioluminescent animals into cancer cells, stem cells and other cell types. The company also is developing new drugs based on genetic engineering that target cancer-specific metabolic defects as well as diagnostics for diseases including cancer. Work too is happening on genetic and stem-cell approaches to cancer. (anticancer.com)

Biogen Idec: Created in San Diego, Biogen Idec’s Rituxan is the No. 1 seller of cancer therapeutics in the United States. Rituxan is indicated for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory, low grade or follicular, CD20-positive, B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. (biogen.com)

CancerVax Corp.: The leader product of CancerVax is Canvaxin, one of a new class of products being developed in the area of specific active immunotherapy, also known as therapeutic cancer vaccines. Canvaxin recently scrapped one international Phase III clinical trial for the treatment of patients with Stage III melanoma. The company also is finalizing the design of exploratory Phase II clinical trials for patients with other advanced-stage solid tumors. (cancervax.com)

Celgene Corp.: Headquartered in New Jersey with research done at its San Diego location, Celgene is working on many products, including Revlimid, a new class of novel immunomodulatory drugs that may demonstrate, in clinical studies, anticancer response. Nearly 30 clinical trials are evaluating Revlimid in the treatment of a broad range of conditions, including multiple myeloma, the malignant blood cell disorders known as myelodysplastic syndromes as well as solid tumor cancers. (celgene.com)

Cengent Therapeutics: Owned by Inncardio Inc. in New York, Cengent in San Diego uses proprietary computational and experimental lab technologies to accelerate and optimize drug discovery. Successful lead compounds include an orally-active, long-acting selective sub-nanomolar endothelin receptor antagonist now in Phase III clinical trials for cancer. Cengent has patents pending for novel HER-2 inhibitors for breast cancer. (cengent.com)

Cylene Pharmaceuticals: Working on small molecule drugs to treat life-threatening cancers, Cylene’s pipeline is led by CX-3543, a quadruplex inhibitor in Phase 1 clinical development. The drugs are designed to selectively induce cancer cell death. (cylenepharma.com)

DermTech International: In creating Epidermal Genetic Information Retrieval, DermTech invented a non-invasive technique for collecting a sample of surface skin cells with an adhesive film that allows for the recovery and analysis of RNA for genetic profiling of the site in question. The company is an industry partner on a $1.8 million grant to the Moores UCSD Cancer Center researching development of a skin test to detect prostate cancer and predict its progress. (dermtechintl.com)

Epimmune: The company is designing therapeutic and preventative vaccines that induce cellular immunity against infectious disease and cancer. (epimmune.com)

Favrille: Focused on the research, development and commercialization of targeted immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and other diseases of the immune system, Favrille’s lead product candidate, FavId, is an active immunotherapy for the treatment of indolent B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. FavId is in a Phase III clinical trial. (favrille.com)

Gen-Probe: The company is partnering with Canadian-based DiagnoCure to develop a molecular urine test for the PCA3 gene to detect prostate cancer. The test will be marketed by Gen-Probe. (gen-probe.com)

Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals: In development are Neumune, for use in protecting the body’s bone marrow from acute radiation syndrome, and Phosphonol, which has the potential to protect against DNA mutations that can occur as a result of radiation injury or chemotherapy. (holliseden.com)

Ichor Medical Systems: Ichor has developed the TriGrid Delivery System, a patented electroporation technology for DNA drug delivery. The system enables delivery of DNA drugs to address unmet medical needs in areas including therapeutic cancer vaccines. The company is working with a cancer care center on trials of a DNA vaccine candidate for treatment of stage IIb-IV melanoma. (ichorms.com)

Inovio Biomedical Corp.: Inovio is focused on its proprietary electroporation therapy that targets the selective killing of cancer cells and local elimination of solid tumors while preserving healthy tissue. The company’s MedPulser Electroporation Therapy System is moving through pre-marketing studies for head and neck cancer and skin cancer in Europe and a U.S. Phase III pivotal study for recurrent head and neck cancer. The company has initiated a Phase I clinical trial to treat locally recurrent cancer after a mastectomy or partial mastectomy using its Selective Electrochemical Tumor Ablation therapy. The trial may enroll up to 24 patients with locally recurrent or metastatic in-breast carcinoma after partial mastectomy (lumptectomy) or cutaneous or sub-cutaneous recurrent or metastatic carcinoma of the breast or chest wall following mastectomy. (inovio.com)

Immusol: The clinical-stage drug development company is working to translate biological systems and proprietary drug targets into novel therapies for human diseases such as cancer and HCV. (immusol.com)

Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc.: The company has 12 antisense products in development to treat metabolic, cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases and cancer. (isispharm.com)

Ligand Pharmaceuticals: Ligand has approved products Ontak, Targretin capsules and Targretin gel for the treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Phase III data evaluation is continuing for the use of Targretin capsules in non-small cell lung cancer. In addition, Phase II studies are ongoing for Ontak in lung cancer, B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. (ligand.com)

Maxim Pharmaceuticals: Recently merged with New Jersey-based EpiCept Corp., Maxim’s lead drug candidate Ceplene, which has shown a statistically significant improvement in leukemia-free survival, is in a Phase III clinical trial as a remission maintenance therapy for patients with acute myeloid leukemia. (maxim.com)

MediGene: A German-American biotechnology company operating from Martinsried, Germany, and San Diego, MediGene is developing tumor treatments. It is in Phase II studies for EndoTAG-1 to treat pancreatic cancer and has announced the initiation of a Phase II clinical trial of drug candidate EndoTAG-1 for the treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer. EndoTAG aims at starving cancerous tumors by destroying blood vessels and thereby cutting off nutrient supply. (medigene.com)

MediciNova: A pair of Phase I studies were initiated in 2004 based on MediciNova’s vascular targeting agent, MN-209, for treating solid tumors in cancer patients. A small molecule given by infusion, the agent targets for destruction the blood supply that feeds cancer tumors. MediciNova acquired the drug from Angiogene Pharmaceuticals in Oxford, England, and hopes to begin Phase II studies early in 2006. (medicinova.com)

Metabasis Therapeutics: Clinical trials are in progress for MB07133, Metabasis’ intravenously administered product candidate for the treatment of primary liver cancer. The product is an activated form of cytarabine (AraC), an anti-cancer drug that is used to treat leukemia. AraC by itself cannot fight primary liver cancer, but Metabasis Therapeutics has discovered a way to change araC into its cancer-killing form araCTP within the diseased liver. The company hopes to identify the maximum tolerated dose in patients by the end of the year and then study a group of patients at that dose. Initial evidence of effectiveness of the drug may be obtained as early as the middle of 2006. (mbasis.com)

Mixture Sciences Inc.: Using the trillions of peptide compounds in its peptide, peptidomimetic and small molecule combinatorial libraries, Mixture is developing a vaccine approach to fighting tumor antigens in cancer patients, especially those with melanoma and prostate cancer. (mixturesciences.com)

Nereus Pharmaceuticals: Nereus is developing NPI-2358, a vascular disrupting agent that targets several tumor models, including breast, sarcoma, colon and prostate. The drug is progressing toward Phase I clinical studies. The company also is developing NPI-0052, an inhibitor of human proteasomes that is active against multiple myeloma cells that are resistant to Velcade, steroid therapy and thalidomide. The compound is progressing toward Phase I clinical trials. (nereuspharm.com)

NovaRx. The company has completed patient enrollment in a Phase II clinical trial to test its TGF-Beta antisense gene-modification on patients with non-curable non-small cell lung cancer. With this gene-modifying vaccine, the company hopes to discourage one of the major mechanisms by which tumor cells evade immune surveillance. NovaRX also is researching other vaccines for glioma (brain tumor), prostate cancer, melanoma, breast cancer and colon cancer. The company has plans to begin enrolling patients for a brain tumor trial. (novarx.com)

Optimer Pharmaceuticals: A trial of the company’s synthetic breast cancer vaccine, OPT-22, is scheduled to start in April. (optimerpharma.com)

Salmedix: The treatment of solid tumors, leukemia, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma are the targets of three new cancer drugs Salmedix has in trial. SDX-101 is an oral drug that will be used in combination with existing therapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia. An open-label, randomized Phase II clinical trial began in September 2004 for 80 patients with CLL. SDX-102 is a developing therapy that prevents the synthesis of ATP energy molecules in molecularly defined solid tumors. Loss of ATP molecules results in the death of the tumor cells. A trial for patients with previously treated astrocytoma and glioblastoma began in 2004. The company also began trials for Treanda, a German-based drug treatment for patients with indolent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2003; trials for the use of Treanda in combination with Rituxan for indolent NHL began in the U.S. and Canada in 2004. (salmedix.com)

Sequenom: Clinical researchers are turning to Sequenom’s MassArray system to analyze DNA. The system delivers reliable and specific data from complex biological samples and from genetic target material that is only available in trace amounts in the body. In recent studies, the system helped to identify three genes linked to breast cancer: ICAM1, NuMA and RAD21. (sequenom.com)

Stressgen Biotechnologies: The discovery, development and commercialization of innovative stress protein-based immunotherapeutics, also known as therapeutic vaccines, is Stressgen’s focus. Its lead candidate for treating papillomavirus-related diseases, which causes warts but also can lead to cancers, HspE7, already has completed Phase II tests. (stressgen.com)

Structural Genomix: The company is developing Troxatyl for the third line treatment of acute myelogenous leukemia and various solid tumors. Structural Genomix also plans to develop Troxatyl in combination with Ara-C for the second-line treatment of for the leukemia. Troxatyl is being evaluated in a Phase II/III clinical trial for the third-line treatment of leukemia and in a phase I/II dose-ranging trial in patients with refractory solid tumors. (stromix.com)

Takeda: Formerly Syrrx, Takeda has entered into a co-development and co-commercialization agreement with German bio company Merck for Matuzumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody for the treatment of cancer. The drug inhibits the epidermal growth factor receptor, which is implicated in the development and progression of a number of human solid tumors. Phase II clinical trials are progressing in patients with non-small cell lung, gastric and colorectal cancers. (takeda.com)

Vical: The two top Vical drug candidates in testing for patients with melanoma and other types of cancer are Allovectin-7 and IL-2/EP. Allovectin-7, is a potential treatment for melanoma and other solid tumors, recently finished Phase II testing and designs for Phase III are now in progress. Phase I testing is under way for IL-2/EP, a gene-encoding interlukin-2 injection followed up with an application of a brief electrical charge to the injected area. The electrical charge causes pores in the region to open up allowing for better transfer of the interlukin-2 into the cells. (vical.com)

— Maria L. Kirkpatrick
Research assistance by Nicole Neuhauser