Celator Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Receives FDA Fast Track Designation For CPX-351 For The Treatment Of Elderly Patients With Secondary Acute Myeloid Leukemia

EWING, N.J., Jan. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Celator Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: CPXX), a biopharmaceutical company that is transforming the science of combination therapy and developing products to improve patient outcomes in cancer, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Fast Track designation for CPX-351 (cytarabine:daunorubicin) for the treatment of elderly patients with secondary Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML).

The FDA established the Fast Track designation process to facilitate the development and expedite the review of drugs intended to treat serious or life-threatening conditions and that demonstrate the potential to address unmet medical needs. Fast Track designation facilitates meetings with FDA to discuss all aspects of development to support approval. It also provides the opportunity to submit sections of a New Drug Application (NDA) on a rolling basis, where FDA may review portions of the NDA as they are received instead of waiting for the entire NDA submission. In addition, a Fast Track designated product could be eligible for priority review if supported by clinical data at the time of NDA submission.

"We are pleased that FDA has granted Fast Track status for CPX-351 for the treatment of elderly patients with secondary AML," said Scott Jackson, Chief Executive Officer of Celator Pharmaceuticals. "Our ongoing Phase 3 study in these patients has completed enrollment, and we expect induction response rate data to be available in the second quarter of this year, and to have overall survival data, the primary endpoint of the study, in the first quarter of 2016. If our Phase 3 study, comparing CPX-351 to the current standard of care, is successful, the Fast Track designation may provide an added benefit of facilitating the NDA review process."

About Celator Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Celator Pharmaceuticals, Inc., with locations in Ewing, N.J., and Vancouver, B.C., is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company that is transforming the science of combination therapy, and developing products to improve patient outcomes in cancer. Celator's proprietary technology platform, CombiPlex®, enables the rational design and rapid evaluation of optimized combinations incorporating traditional chemotherapies as well as molecularly targeted agents to deliver enhanced anti-cancer activity.  CombiPlex addresses several fundamental shortcomings of conventional combination regimens, as well as the challenges inherent in combination drug development, by identifying the most effective synergistic molar ratio of the drugs being combined in vitro, and fixing this ratio in a nano-scale drug delivery complex to maintain the optimized combination until exposure to the tumor following administration.  Celator's pipeline includes lead product, CPX-351 (a liposomal formulation of cytarabine:daunorubicin) for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia; CPX-1 (a liposomal formulation of irinotecan:floxuridine) for the treatment of colorectal cancer; a preclinical stage product candidate, CPX-8 (a hydrophobic docetaxel prodrug nanoparticle formulation), being studied by the National Cancer Institute's Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory; and several programs exploring novel combinations of existing drugs, including molecularly targeted therapies.

For more information, please visit Celator's website at www.celatorpharma.com. Information on ongoing trials is available at www.clinicaltrials.gov.

Forward-Looking Statements

To the extent that statements contained in this press release are not descriptions of historical facts regarding Celator, they are forward-looking statements reflecting the current beliefs and expectations of management made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Words such as "may," "will," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," and similar expressions (as well as other words or expressions referencing future events, conditions or circumstances) are intended to identify forward-looking statements.  Examples of forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, among others, statements regarding the potential safety, tolerability, efficacy and therapeutic potential of CPX-351, our expectations as to the availability of clinical data and the receipt of regulatory approval,, and our expectations regarding our research and development plans for CPX-351 and our other drug candidatesand expanding our pipeline and advancing our CombiPlex platform.  Forward-looking statements in this release involve substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause our clinical development programs, future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.  Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the uncertainties inherent in the conduct of future clinical studies, enrollment in clinical studies, availability of data from ongoing clinical studies, whether final results of clinical studies will be supportive of regulatory approvals required to market licensed products and, if so, whether fast track designation will result in earlier approval, and other matters that could affect the availability or commercial potential of our drug candidates.  Celator undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.  For a further description of the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to the business of the company in general, see Celator's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013 and other filings by the company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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SOURCE Celator Pharmaceuticals, Inc.