Lixte Biotechnology Completes Private Placement Of Convertible Preferred Stock

EAST SETAUKET, NY--(Marketwired - Jan 25, 2016) - Lixte Biotechnology Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: LIXT) announced today that a major shareholder has purchased $1,750,000 of Convertible Preferred stock. If fully converted, this purchase would convert to 2,187,500 common shares at a per share price of $0.80. Lixte's CEO, John S. Kovach, M.D., said, "This new investment allows Lixte to pursue opportunities that have emerged regarding our lead anticancer compound, LB-100. First, in the Phase I trial, several solid tumor patients with a variety of recurrent progressive cancers had stabilization of their disease in the absence of dose-limiting toxicity as reported at the 2015 AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference in Boston. We had not anticipated that LB-100 alone would stop tumor progression in some solid tumor patients. This finding raises opportunities, currently being explored, to go directly to Phase 2 studies of LB-100 as a single agent. Second, Lixte has licensed LB-100 to the Taipei Medical University to determine the activity of LB-100 plus doxorubicin in Asian patients with hepatocellular cancer, beginning with a Phase 1b/2 trial planned to start this summer. This will test the ability of LB-100, demonstrated in several animal models, to enhance the effectiveness of a widely used anticancer drug against one of the most common and devastating cancers worldwide. Third, scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) reported that LB-100 enhances the anti-tumor activity of cisplatin and reduced cisplatin-resistance of human medulloblastoma cells in animal models. Previously, NIH investigators found that LB-100 enhanced the activity of cisplatin in models of cisplatin sensitive and cisplatin-resistant human ovarian cancer." Dr. Kovach continued, "Because of these new developments, Lixte is considering several options for Phase 1b/2 trials, with recurrent platinum-resistant ovarian cancer at the top of the list. The most definitive trial design would be a randomized study of LB-100 plus a platinum compound versus the therapeutic choice of the treating doctor with an opportunity for those failing treatment with the 'physician's choice' to receive the LB-100 regimen. The cost of a randomized trial would require additional financial resources beyond those of the private placement." About Lixte Biotechnology Holdings, Inc. Lixte is a clinical drug discovery and development company that identifies enzyme targets associated with serious common diseases and then designs novel compounds to attack those targets. Lixte's product pipeline encompasses two major categories of compounds at various stages of pre-clinical and clinical development that the company believes has broad therapeutic potential not only for cancer but also for other debilitating and life-threatening diseases. Lixte's unique phosphatase inhibitor, LB-100, is completing initial evaluation in a Phase I cancer trial (see ClinicalTrials.gov: Identifier NCTO1837667).