- Subject: OXiGENE Initiates Phase I Studies of Combretastatin
- From: AOLNews@aol.com
- Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1998 04:01:35 EST
OXiGENE Initiates Phase I Studies of Combretastatin
Tumor Vascular Targeting Agent Attacks Cancer-Specific Blood Vessels
Formed by Angiogenesis
BOSTON, Nov. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Addressing the ABN AMRO Health Care
Conference in New York, Bjorn Nordenvall, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief
Executive Officer of OXiGENE, (Nasdaq: OXGN; SSE: OXGN) announced today that
the Company has begun treating the first patient in a U.S. Phase I clinical
trial of Combretastatin A-4 Prodrug for the treatment of solid tumors. In
addition, the Company announced plans to initiate a second Phase I study with
Combretastatin in the U.S. later this year and the British charity, Cancer
Research Campaign, is commencing a third Phase I study in the U.K. OXiGENE's
clinical trials of Combretastatin will evaluate three different dosing
regimens, as well as the safety, pharmacokinetics, reduction of tumor blood
flow and maximum tolerated dose of Combretastatin in humans. Combretastatin
is believed to be the first in a new class of drugs known as tumor vascular
targeting agents, which selectively targets and destroys cancer-specific blood
vessels formed by angiogenesis.
"More than 90 percent of all cancers are solid tumors, and most rely on the
blood supply to survive and grow," said Scot Remick, M.D., Program Leader,
Developmental Therapeutics Division of Hematology and Oncology, Ireland Cancer
Center at University Hospitals of Cleveland and Associate Professor of
Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. "In preclinical studies,
Combretastatin demonstrated potency as a stand-alone therapy, and increased
potency in combination with other agents in destroying tumor vasculature.
These trials represent the first opportunity to assess the use of this
promising new compound in humans."
"The development of Combretastatin is in line with the Company's overall
strategy to discover new products that will enhance the effectiveness of
conventional cancer therapies," said Dr. Nordenvall. "Initial data from the
Phase I trials will determine the safety of Combretastatin as a stand-alone
therapy and will frame the design of future trials which will evaluate
Combretastatin in combination with other cancer treatments."
Tumor vascular targeting and angiogenesis inhibition are related but distinct
cancer therapies, which radically depart from conventional approaches to
treating cancer. Certain new drugs in this class of compounds target a
tumor's life support system, the network of newly emerging blood vessels,
while leaving blood vessels associated with normal tissue unaffected. A
process called angiogenesis, which is the growth of new blood vessels from
previously existing ones, forms the tumor-specific blood vessels.
Combretastatin differs from anti-angiogenesis drugs in that Combretastatin
destroys existing blood vessels in tumors, whereas anti-angiogenesis drugs
inhibit the growth of new blood vessels in tumors.
Combretastatin is being developed as a drug that could potentially be used in
combination with chemotherapy and radiation to enhance the effectiveness of
these traditional cancer treatments. In animal studies, Combretastatin was
shown to selectively attack and destroy existing tumor vasculature, creating a
rapid and irreversible shutdown of the tumors' blood vessels. In one such
study, published in Cancer Research, v. 57:1829 (May 1997) researchers found
that a single dose of Combretastatin reduced tumor blood flow in mice by 93
percent. Twenty-four hours after injection with Combretastatin, 95 percent of
the cancer cells were dead as a result of being deprived of oxygen and
nutrients.
OXiGENE is an international biopharmaceutical company developing a diverse
portfolio of innovative products to combat cancer and other major diseases.
The Company's mission is to develop new therapeutics that will enhance the
effectiveness of traditional cancer treatments. OXiGENE has several product
candidates in clinical development, including a second-generation DNA repair
inhibitor Neu-Sensamide(TM), in Phase III clinical trials in patients with
non-small cell lung cancer and a Phase I study in patients with glioblastoma;
a third-generation DNA repair inhibitor Declopramide (previously OXi-104), in
Phase I studies in patients with advanced stage cancers; Combretastatin A-4
Prodrug, a tumor vascular targeting agent for the treatment of solid tumors,
in Phase I studies in patients with advanced stage cancers; and Cordycepin, in
Phase I/II studies in patients with TdT-positive leukemia.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and
uncertainties that may cause the Company's (OXiGENE's) actual results or
outcomes to be materially different from those anticipated and discussed in
this press release. Factors that may cause such a difference include, but are
not limited to, those risks and uncertainties associated with the regulatory
approval of the Company's proprietary drugs, and other risks included in the
Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and in the Company's other filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission during the past 12 months.
SOURCE OXiGENE
CO: OXiGENE
ST: Massachusetts
IN: MTC
SU:
11/11/98 04:00 EST http://www.prnewswire.com
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