As 2013 draws to its gasping end, even NPR has now started broadcasting countdown programs (well, they've been at it for the past two weeks or so really). Today's program was one on the scientific advances of 2013. In the most abstract and circumspect fashion, the advances in immunotherapy was spoken of, everything from chimeric antigen receptors, redirected T-cell killing, advances in vaccine development, and non-traditional antibodies.
The most pertinent part of the reporting came at the end, where the two reporters discussed the importance of public funding versus industry funding for the advancement of clinical medicine (in this case, pertaining to cancer therapeutics).
As the reporters pointed out, funding from both sectors were down in 2013.
The government sequester has stripped most of the meat out of government grant funding agencies (the PRI Science reporter concisely stated that many promising and well conducted research was delayed or terminally frustrated by the actions of our uncompromising elected officials), and that private funding is even more risk adverse in these times of financial down turn (besides, even in the best of times, private funding will not fun projects that does not have clear profit associated with it).
It is precisely in this funding atmosphere that CanFel is trying to discover and bring to bear its first antibody based canine cancer therapeutics. It is precisely because of this funding atmosphere that we have turned directly to the people, that we have turned to Indiegogo for help in aiding our quest to bring antibody therapeutics to veterinary medicine.
Monday, December 30, 2013
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Love Actually...
Tonight, more letter writing. Though, i must admit, slightly more distracted letter writing. Gave in to temptation tonight and put the 2003 movie gem "Love Actually" on the ol Roku. Sad to say? It has got to be one of my favorite movies, and not just because it has Emma Thompson in it (though it is not my favorite Emma Thompson movie, that has got to be her 1995 movie, "Carrington") nor the fact that Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson's movie daughter plays the role of "first lobster" in the school nativity play.
Of all the characters in the movie, the broken down rockstar played by Bill Ney and the couple played by Martin Freeman and Joanne Page has got to be the highlights. Though the saddest, for me, is probably the couple played by Andrew Lincoln ("The Walking Dead"), Keira Knightley (sometimes i feel she has too many teeth?), and Chiwetel Ejiofor ("12 Years a Slave", "Kinky Boots" and the mysterious Federation Agent from the movie "Serenity")...
Though, one of my favorite movies, "Love Actually" is also quite inspirational for the continuation of the letter writing campaign on behalf of CanFel and its Indiegogo campaign. As the makers of the movie intended, the movie explores all the emotions endured through the course of love and life. Isn't that, indeed, the same set of emotions one experiences and explores with our beloved pets? All aspects of it are present through the course of our life with our pets. So indeed, laugh with Colin Firth, feel the rejuvenated through Liam Neeson... but write i will before an early night to tomorrow's early day.
Of all the characters in the movie, the broken down rockstar played by Bill Ney and the couple played by Martin Freeman and Joanne Page has got to be the highlights. Though the saddest, for me, is probably the couple played by Andrew Lincoln ("The Walking Dead"), Keira Knightley (sometimes i feel she has too many teeth?), and Chiwetel Ejiofor ("12 Years a Slave", "Kinky Boots" and the mysterious Federation Agent from the movie "Serenity")...
Though, one of my favorite movies, "Love Actually" is also quite inspirational for the continuation of the letter writing campaign on behalf of CanFel and its Indiegogo campaign. As the makers of the movie intended, the movie explores all the emotions endured through the course of love and life. Isn't that, indeed, the same set of emotions one experiences and explores with our beloved pets? All aspects of it are present through the course of our life with our pets. So indeed, laugh with Colin Firth, feel the rejuvenated through Liam Neeson... but write i will before an early night to tomorrow's early day.
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Tweaks and other subtleties
Spent the day with my compatriots of CanFel to tweak the Indiegogo campaign so that it is as impactful and informative as possible. First, there was the issue of getting the message across that antibody therapeutics are more directed and thus much more discreet in the type of off target toxicities it can cause (side effects). Then there was the matter of the website for CanFel itself. The site is a very well designed and laid out site, composed by P, a member of CanFel. However, the look is elegantly minimalistic and, unfortunately, quite possible that it may confuse the less web savvy browsers and possible donors out there. So it was emails to and fro, tweaking and tinkering from P and me, checking on a laptop and my smartphone to make sure that the site looks good regardless of the browser that was used to view it.
Tonight, another night of letter writing i think. KA has generated many possible people to contact and it is our duty and want to contact as many of them as possible indeed. So, clicking and clacking i shall go i think.
Tonight, another night of letter writing i think. KA has generated many possible people to contact and it is our duty and want to contact as many of them as possible indeed. So, clicking and clacking i shall go i think.
The Plague
Woke up this morning to a dull pain behind my eyes and an obstructed nasal passage... it is unmistakable... i have the plague, it has presented itself as a stuffy nose and inflamed sinuses. My wife has been ill since our holiday sojourn behind the orange curtain. Violent coughing racks her body on the bad nights, rendering her sleepless and exhausted. Typically, i am quite resilient against the common cold, but it has been a whole year or battling small sicknesses at home and at work, so i guess the chink in my armor was finally found and exploited.
Well, that above was yesterday... today... slightly more human in form and feel... slept for 12 hours thanks to modern medicine... though i doubt it was a peaceful night... awake all tangled up in the blanket and sheets with the cat giving me a slightly accusatory look for not being a good peaceful heat source through the night.
Need to continue more work around the Indiegogo campaign today - work that i didn't finish before passing out yesterday. It seems that we presumed too much on parts of the appeal of CanFel. Much of the feedback revealed that many people who has come by the site does not know the difference between conventional radiation/chemo therapy and antibody based therapeutics.
Antibody therapeutics versus chemo or radiation therapy:
Generally, antibody therapeutics is directed and specific to a target on a cell (the tumor cell) that will adversely affect the ability of the cell to propagate.
Generally, radiation and chemo therapy targets cells based on how fast they grow. The idea being that tumor cells are generally the fastest growing cells and thus targeting the rate of growth is direct and logical. Unfortunately, hair, GI mucosal epithelia, white blood cells are also rapidly growing cells. This is the reason why much of the side effects of radiation/chemo therapy is the loss of hair, GI symptoms such as diarrhea, nausea, and loss of immunity due to loss of white blood cells.
Because of those two generalizations, it is generally believed that antibody based therapeutics is milder in side effects and better for the patient's quality of life.
That message, it seems, wasn't directly obvious on the Indiegogo site... that message is what we must strive to address...
On ward!! Through work today i will find health... i hope...
Well, that above was yesterday... today... slightly more human in form and feel... slept for 12 hours thanks to modern medicine... though i doubt it was a peaceful night... awake all tangled up in the blanket and sheets with the cat giving me a slightly accusatory look for not being a good peaceful heat source through the night.
Need to continue more work around the Indiegogo campaign today - work that i didn't finish before passing out yesterday. It seems that we presumed too much on parts of the appeal of CanFel. Much of the feedback revealed that many people who has come by the site does not know the difference between conventional radiation/chemo therapy and antibody based therapeutics.
Antibody therapeutics versus chemo or radiation therapy:
Generally, antibody therapeutics is directed and specific to a target on a cell (the tumor cell) that will adversely affect the ability of the cell to propagate.
Generally, radiation and chemo therapy targets cells based on how fast they grow. The idea being that tumor cells are generally the fastest growing cells and thus targeting the rate of growth is direct and logical. Unfortunately, hair, GI mucosal epithelia, white blood cells are also rapidly growing cells. This is the reason why much of the side effects of radiation/chemo therapy is the loss of hair, GI symptoms such as diarrhea, nausea, and loss of immunity due to loss of white blood cells.
Because of those two generalizations, it is generally believed that antibody based therapeutics is milder in side effects and better for the patient's quality of life.
That message, it seems, wasn't directly obvious on the Indiegogo site... that message is what we must strive to address...
On ward!! Through work today i will find health... i hope...
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Letter writing
In order for crowdfunding campaigns to succeed, a threshold number of audiences must be reached. Thus is crowdfunding solidly lodged in the realms of social networking, where, with a click of a pixelated thumbs-up icon, hundreds, thousands, perhaps millions of potential supporters/clients/followers can be reached.
i've spent most of my life trying to stay away from social media. Attempting to stay anonymous while being an active participant of the on-line social community (alright, i fess up, i really enjoy the MMORPG games and the sense of community playing those games brings - i just don't like to be known). Because of this, my social networking chops are about as useful to CanFel and the Indiegogo campaign as the non existent social networking infrastructure of the other CanFel members.
We realized this weakness in our crowdfunding scheme early on, and, with the help of KA, who is infinitely more versed in the ebbs and flow of social media, we have generated a slew of potential blogs, websites, on-line organizations that we could potentially ally with to get our message out and possibly gather some supporters around our banner of bringing antibody therapeutics to veterinary medicine.
Today was a day of letter writing for me. Writing these short, concise "hello, we are CanFel" letters really reminded me once again how unique this undertaking truly is.
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Indiegogo... the fund raiser continues!
The campaign progresses forward! It really makes me realize how generous our friends and family can be. We are indeed very fortunate. The seeds of CanFel, planted in the field of Indiegogo, continues to grow... come and see how it progresses if you wish!
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
CanFel Therapeutics
Yesterday marked a milestone for a project that i have been working on for the past four or so years, CanFel Therapeutics.
We launched our Indigogo campaign after a number of years of beating on the shuttered doors of Silicon Valley investors large and small and the various Pharma/Biotech companies that dots the landscape of America. It seems everywhere we looked the answer was the same. The market, we were instructed, was not big enough. No one, we were told, is willing to spend anything more than just a vet visit on their sick pets. Antibody therapeutics, we were kindly informed, was too expensive to discover, develop, and commercialize
Yet, the market is there. Pet owners are willing to find the best care for their pets. Pet health insurance policies are now common instead of being a novelty. There was a disconnect between what we heard during the closing of the various meetings we attended and the reality we see evolving around us daily.
When we first thought of the idea, all the principles of CanFel were still gainfully employed at Raven biotechnologies, inc., and pushing hard towards an IND for an antibody we called KID3. We eventually got KID3 from frustrating my dogma filled mind, on the bench, to a human patient in a little under 14 months (where upon it was renamed RAV12), but the dream about veterinary drug development never died. Then Macrogenics bought Raven, RAV12 got (in my most humble but firmly - nay - staunchly held opinion) prematurely terminated just two patients into a Phase 2 Pancreatic Cancer trial, and the Ravenites started being scattered to the wind.
i left two years after the Macrogenics buy out (spending a total of 10 years, a quarter of my life, with Raven). i joined another SSF start up biotech and once again delved into drug discovery and exploring new drug delivery/control possibilities. Jennie and Penny, co-founders of Raven and part of the brain trust of CanFel, saw the writing on the wall but were determined to work to their ideals until their own clocks were punched. CanFel was still in our focus then, as Raven/Macrogenics begin to slip away from our day to day. Then came the time, recently, when all three of us were persons of leisure. Having shed our professional responsibilities and commitment to a third party entity, we seriously delved into trying to jump start CanFel. That then resulted in yesterday's Indigogo campaign launch.
Finally agreeing to disagree with the great minds of Silicon Valley and the Biotech/Pharma-verse, we decided to appeal to the general public for funding. Surely, we thought, there must be a better way to test the validity of our believed market (abundant) and Biotech/Pharma/Silicon Valley's believed market (limited) for antibody based Veterinary oncology therapeutics. Crowdfunding, as it turns out, was the best suited experimental vehicle to test the differing beliefs. Let the arbitrator be the same public that will be the market for the product we wish to produce. Here, no pundit or personal bias will hold sway. Giving ample chance for exposure through social media and word by mouth, let the public decide on the feasibility and marketability of antibody based veterinary cancer therapies.
Well, the dice has been cast. The experiment has begun. Let loose, as they say, the fortunes and fate of humanity (well, the dogs of war really, but hardly fitting). Let see who the smiling green Lady of Terry Pratchett's imagination will side with, CanFel or everyone else that has told CanFel that CanFel is an impossibility.
Cast your vote...
We launched our Indigogo campaign after a number of years of beating on the shuttered doors of Silicon Valley investors large and small and the various Pharma/Biotech companies that dots the landscape of America. It seems everywhere we looked the answer was the same. The market, we were instructed, was not big enough. No one, we were told, is willing to spend anything more than just a vet visit on their sick pets. Antibody therapeutics, we were kindly informed, was too expensive to discover, develop, and commercialize
Yet, the market is there. Pet owners are willing to find the best care for their pets. Pet health insurance policies are now common instead of being a novelty. There was a disconnect between what we heard during the closing of the various meetings we attended and the reality we see evolving around us daily.
When we first thought of the idea, all the principles of CanFel were still gainfully employed at Raven biotechnologies, inc., and pushing hard towards an IND for an antibody we called KID3. We eventually got KID3 from frustrating my dogma filled mind, on the bench, to a human patient in a little under 14 months (where upon it was renamed RAV12), but the dream about veterinary drug development never died. Then Macrogenics bought Raven, RAV12 got (in my most humble but firmly - nay - staunchly held opinion) prematurely terminated just two patients into a Phase 2 Pancreatic Cancer trial, and the Ravenites started being scattered to the wind.
i left two years after the Macrogenics buy out (spending a total of 10 years, a quarter of my life, with Raven). i joined another SSF start up biotech and once again delved into drug discovery and exploring new drug delivery/control possibilities. Jennie and Penny, co-founders of Raven and part of the brain trust of CanFel, saw the writing on the wall but were determined to work to their ideals until their own clocks were punched. CanFel was still in our focus then, as Raven/Macrogenics begin to slip away from our day to day. Then came the time, recently, when all three of us were persons of leisure. Having shed our professional responsibilities and commitment to a third party entity, we seriously delved into trying to jump start CanFel. That then resulted in yesterday's Indigogo campaign launch.
Finally agreeing to disagree with the great minds of Silicon Valley and the Biotech/Pharma-verse, we decided to appeal to the general public for funding. Surely, we thought, there must be a better way to test the validity of our believed market (abundant) and Biotech/Pharma/Silicon Valley's believed market (limited) for antibody based Veterinary oncology therapeutics. Crowdfunding, as it turns out, was the best suited experimental vehicle to test the differing beliefs. Let the arbitrator be the same public that will be the market for the product we wish to produce. Here, no pundit or personal bias will hold sway. Giving ample chance for exposure through social media and word by mouth, let the public decide on the feasibility and marketability of antibody based veterinary cancer therapies.
Well, the dice has been cast. The experiment has begun. Let loose, as they say, the fortunes and fate of humanity (well, the dogs of war really, but hardly fitting). Let see who the smiling green Lady of Terry Pratchett's imagination will side with, CanFel or everyone else that has told CanFel that CanFel is an impossibility.
Cast your vote...
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