Tolero Pharmaceuticals Receives European Medicines Agency Orphan Drug Designation For Alvocidib For The Treatment Of Acute Myeloid Leukemia

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 25, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Tolero Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage company developing treatments for serious hematological diseases, today announced that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has granted orphan drug designation for alvocidib for the treatment of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Alvocidib is in clinical development for patients with relapsed/refractory and frontline intermediate or high-risk AML.

"The granting of orphan drug designation by the EMA for alvocidib underscores the great unmet medical need for patients with AML, many of whom experience limited effectiveness with current therapies," said David J. Bearss, Ph.D., Tolero's Chief Executive Officer. "Alvocidib has demonstrated high response rates to date in patients with AML, and we look forward to initiating Phase 3 clinical trials this year."

Alvocidib has been evaluated in multiple Phase 2 clinical trials involving approximately 400 patients. These Phase 2 clinical trials included patients with relapsed/refractory AML as well as those with frontline intermediate or high-risk AML. Intermediate and high-risk AML patients are determined by a profile of clinical, cytogenetic and molecular features, and typically these patients have a poor prognosis due largely to the limited effectiveness of current therapeutic options.

The EMA orphan designation is a status assigned to a medicine intended for use against a rare condition (prevalence of the condition in the European Union must not be more than 5 in 10,000) and allows a pharmaceutical company to benefit from incentives offered by the EU to develop a medicine for the treatment, prevention or diagnosis of a disease that is life-threatening or a chronically debilitating rare disease. In addition to a 10-year period of marketing exclusivity in the EU after product approval, orphan drug designation provides incentives for companies seeking protocol assistance from the EMA during the product development phase and direct access to centralized marketing authorization.

About Alvocidib

Alvocidib is a potent small molecule inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) in development as a combination therapy for frontline and relapsed/refractory AML. CDKs are regulatory proteins that are critical to cellular replication and regulation of gene expression. Given the key role CDK de-regulation plays in unchecked cell division, proliferation and expression of cancer-associated genes, CDKs are an attractive target for the treatment of various cancers.

About Tolero

Tolero Pharmaceuticals is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing treatments to improve and extend the lives of patients with serious oncological and hematological diseases. Our diverse pipeline targets important biological drivers of blood disorders to treat leukemias and anemia as well as important targets of drug resistance and transcriptional control.

For additional information, please visit www.toleropharma.com.

Contact:
Joe Nilson
Tolero Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
801-285-6003
bizdev@toleropharma.com

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SOURCE Tolero Pharmaceuticals, Inc.