So he left for Sugen in the San Francisco Bay area in early 1992.
While Sugen targeted the receptor for VEGF, Genentech was focusing on the protein itself.
The company, Sugen, was searching for ways to block the molecular signals that tumors require for growth.
Sugen set out to find a druglike chemical that could to turn off the VEGF receptor in humans.
However, it's worth noting that Sugen has other anti-angiogenesis compounds in its pipeline.
As Sugen headed toward costly large-scale human testing of SU5416 in 1999, it needed a collaborator with a fat wallet.
Earlier this year a drug candidate from Sugen, a biotech that Pharmacia bought in 1999, fell through, but more are on the way.
Both Sugen and Genentech are rushing to conduct final-stage human testing of drugs that block the action of a key protein, called VEGF.
Instead of turning off VEGF receptors as Sugen's drug does, Genentech's antibody latches onto VEGF itself to stop it from docking with a receptor.
In addition to Sugen and Genentech, research powerhouses Novartis and AstraZeneca and biotech boutique ImClone Systems are rushing to test new drugs as VEGF-blockers.
Pfizer's best hope for a rebound before 2012 is its pipeline of 14 cancer drugs, which have sprung up from two acquired biotechs, Agouron and Sugen.
The first hints of how promising the new drugs could be in holding tumors in check were to be unveiled by Genentech and Sugen late last month.
At the same conference Sugen was to present a smaller study indicating that SU5416 with chemo halted the growth of tumors in patients with advanced colon cancer for an average of at least nine months.
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