Novartis plans four cancer drugs by 2011

Basel, Switzerland -- Swiss multinational drug maker Novartis AG hopes to sell four new cancer-treating drugs by 2011, a division president said in a report published Wednesday.

At least one of the drugs could eventually achieve sales of at least $1 billion a year, Novartis Oncology President David Epstein told The Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper did not report which one it was or why Epstein thought its sales would be $1 billion.

The first new drug Novartis seeks to market is RAD001, which it is testing against several types of cancer, including endocrine tumors and renal-cell cancer, Epstein told the newspaper.

Novartis plans to report positive data on the drug's effectiveness against another kind of cancer -- lymphoma -- at the American Society of Hematology meeting in Atlanta this week.

Others drugs Novartis intends to market by 2011 are ASA404 for non-small-cell lung cancer, SOM230 for a rare group of neuroendocrine tumors and LBH589 for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, Epstein said.

The experimental drugs could fail in human tests or be rejected by regulators, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the newspaper said.

Many of the new cancer drugs Novartis is testing are targeted therapies that seek to block specific molecules that help cancer spread.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International.