Alan Harris Som 4% stakeholder13 Apr 2017 22:17
Alan Harris, the founder of Som,
was involved in developing a therapy
for these surgery-resistant patients
with Acromegaly when he was at
Novartis. The product is called
Octreotide, which is now a 1.65
billion dollar product. So, within the
cohort of patients who have failed
surgical treatment, most of them are
on Octreotide or another product
called Ianreotide. These are both
somatostatin analogues, and will
work fully in roughly 30% of patients
who try them. The remaining 70%
need an alternate treatment.
Novartis realised this, as did Pfizer,
and developed other products.
Novartis brought a product called
Pasireotide, and Pfizer brought
a product called Pegvisomant.
Pegvisomant is a growth hormone
receptor antibody. It acts as an
antagonist, blocking the receptor
and reducing the action of growth
hormone. There are two problems
with growth hormone receptor
antagonists – the first is that it has
no effect on the tumour size, only
on the action of growth hormone.
Secondly, it has a tendency to
elevate liver enzymes.
Pasireotide, however, is a
somatostatin analogue, so it does
have an effect on the tumour. It
binds to somatostatin receptors two
and five. Octreotide only binds to
receptor 2. Pasireotide is clinically
effective, but it can cause diabetes as
a side effect.
Alan set up Som Pharmaceuticals
to develop a new somatostatin
analogue. He wanted to find a
product as effective as pasireotide,
that did not cause diabetes.