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Nobel laureate disputes cancer-cure quote in Times
02:37 p.m May 06, 1998 Eastern
By Ransdell Pierson
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nobel laureate James Watson, co-discoverer of the
structure of DNA, is disputing a quote attributed to him in The New York
Times predicting cancer would be cured within two years by two drugs
featured in a Times story.
The front-page article in the Sunday Times spurred an explosion of interest in
biotech company EntreMed of Rockville, Md., and its two drugs, angiostatin and
endostatin, helping boost its shares 500 percent on Monday.
The two drugs are naturally occurring proteins that block growth of blood
vessels that feed tumors. They were discovered by Dr. Judah Folkman, a cancer
researcher at Children's Hospital in Boston, and licensed to EntreMed.
In the Times article, written by Gina Kolata, Watson is quoted as saying,
``Judah is going to cure cancer in two years.''
The article added that Watson said Folkman would be remembered along with
scientists like Charles Darwin as someone who permanently altered civilization.
Some Wall Street analysts said the bold statement by Watson, a co-discoverer of
the ``double helix'' structure of DNA, was a key factor that inspired the
EntreMed rally.
Watson, director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in on New York state's
Long Island has submitted a letter to the editor of the newspaper
challenging the cancer-cure quote, according to laboratory spokesman Wendy
Goldstein.
Times spokeswoman Lisa Carparelli told Reuters she was unable to immediately
comment on Watson's letter but would do so later in the day.
EntreMed officials could not be reached for comment.
Goldstein provided Reuters a copy of Watson's letter, which she said would be
submitted to The New York Times on Wednesday for publication.
In the three-paragraph letter dated May 4, Watson states, ''In the May 3 New
York Times article, Ms. Kolata reported that I predicted that Judah Folkman
would cure cancer in two years. My recollection of the conversation to which
she refers, however, is quite different.''
The letter continues, ``What I told Ms. Kolata, at a dinner party six weeks ago,
was that endostatin should be in NCI (National Cancer Institute) clinical
trials by the end of this year, and that we would know about one year after that
whether they (sic) were effective.''
In the letter, Watson noted that the two
drugs have not yet been tested in humans.
The drugs have only been tested in mice,
a point that the medical community and
drug industry analysts have underscored
in recent days as a reason for caution.
Many drugs that work in mice have later
failed to have the same beneficial
effects in humans, according to industry
analysts and scientists.
Goldstein said Watson was in California
and could not be reached to comment.
``Dr. Watson feels very strongly about
setting the record straight that he did
not make such a statement. He is
contesting that quote primarily because
he feels a statement as bold as his
coming from him has offered what could
very well prove to be false hope to a
great many people'' with cancer,
Goldstein said.
Carl Gordon, a drug analyst for OrbiMed
Advisors in New York, said he believed
Watson's quote and enthusiastic quotes in
the same article about the two drugs by
National Cancer Institute director Dr.
Richard Klausner were the biggest drivers
of EntreMed's rally on Monday.
EntreMed's stock jumped from about $12 on
Friday to trade in the low $50 range
Monday, after briefly hitting $85. It
lost $10.125 to $33 in heavy trading
Wednesday afternoon on the Nasdaq market.
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All
rights reserved. Republication and
redistribution of Reuters content is
expressly prohibited without the prior
written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall
not be liable for any errors or delays in
the content, or for any actions taken in
reliance thereon.
[Reuters News Service]
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