BioCentury
ARTICLE | Tools & Techniques

Stemming the tide

Why OncoMed’s failure might not be death knell for cancer stem cells

May 11, 2017 10:06 PM UTC

OncoMed’s bad April has all the hallmarks of a death knell for the once-promising technology of cancer stem cells, adding to the pile of preclinical breakthroughs that didn’t translate to the clinic. But many insiders aren’t giving up on the class, arguing the first wave of companies jumped in too early, and that better defining the biology can still lead to successful new candidates.

On April 10, OncoMed Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced its lead cancer stem cell candidate, the anti-DLL4 mAb demcizumab (OMP-21M18), missed its primary endpoint in a Phase II trial in metastatic pancreatic cancer...