Expand Access to Life-Saving Cancer Treatment

To: ImClone Systems Inc.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.

CC: U.S. Food and Drug Administration
House Energy and Commerce committee
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee

From: Fred Santino, cancer activist, Cancer-Help Initiative,
http://www.cancer-help.us
Carl Baertlein, pancreatic cancer patient, 650-906-8381
Endorsed by the Abigail Alliance for Better Access to
Developmental Drugs http://www.abigail-alliance.org/

We are requesting that ImClone immediately make Erbitux (also known as IMC-C225) available via compassionate use to patients with pancreatic and advanced colorectal cancer. Researchers already have found that Erbitux shows promise in treating both of these deadly diseases. People who are very sick with these cancers often have exhausted their FDA-approved treatment options. They currently have no access to Erbitux, which is a new type of cancer-fighting drug.

Once trials for colorectal and pancreatic cancer begin anew, we also request that ImClone create expanded access programs for both groups. Well-designed compassionate use and expanded access programs will provide additional safety and efficacy information about Erbitux in a "real world" setting, while getting the drug to people who are ineligible for trials.

Pancreatic cancer will kill nearly 30,000 people in the United States this year, almost twice the number expected to die from AIDS. Over the last 25 years, virtually no progress has been made in improving 5-year pancreatic cancer survival rates, which remain stuck at around 5 percent.

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States, where almost 57,000 people are expected to succumb to the disease this year.

By committing additional resources to the treatment of these two tough cancers, ImClone would live up to its vow to "make a difference" in the lives of cancer patients.