Stem cell research: University of Michigan

Where: University of Michigan: Ann Arbor

What: OncoMed Pharmaceuticals is a California biotech company founded by two U-M internal medicine professors to test drugs that target cancer stem cells. It's a new approach in the field. Earlier this month, the company announced it had attracted $14 million in initial stock backing.

Who: Dr. Max Wicha, director of the comprehensive cancer center, and Dr. Michael Clarke, now at Stanford University.

The research: Cancer spreads by stem cells, Wicha and Clarke have found. Stem cells drive the subsequent growth of a tumor, dictating whether it spreads elsewhere. "The stem cells may have an Achilles' heel," Wicha says. "They may be much more fragile. Our theory is, one reason chemotherapy doesn't extend life much for women with advanced disease, is that it may selectively have killed non-stem cells in tumors, not just the stem cells. We've probably targeted the wrong cell population."

In the pipeline: The company hopes to have its first drug, in a class known as monoclonal antibodies, by 2007. It has assembled a large library of these drugs to test in patients with multiple myeloma, breast cancer and colon cancer. The approach, says Clarke, "is a new era of cancer drug development. The discovery and characterization of the cancer stem cells that drive tumor growth will, for the first time, allow us to specifically target these deadly cells." The team has identified as many as 50 targets -- all small molecules -- on cancer stem cells.

Concerns: Finding ways to kill stem cells in cancer without destroying other stem cells the body needs elsewhere, such as in bone marrow and the gut.

Learn more: A company profile and other biotech links are at www.Biospace.com

Copyright © 2005 Detroit Free Press Inc.