Making economic Genasense

Genta Inc. began selling Genasense on a named-patient basis last week to any cancer patient outside the U.S. who wants it, even though the compound has been turned down for regulatory approval twice in the U.S. and once in Europe in the last three years. The company said named-patient sales would offset some of the costs of an ongoing Phase III trial that GNTA hopes will be sufficient for approval in Europe.

The named-patient program will allow GNTA to provide Genasense at a price roughly equivalent to market value, according to Chairman and CEO Raymond Warrell. He told BioCentury it's the only way the company can afford to continue pursuing full regulatory approval of the product, which consists of antisense agents targeting Bcl-2 mRNA...