Anadys Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Selects A Novel Oral Toll-Like Receptor Ligand As Drug Development Candidate For Cancer
SAN DIEGO, Dec. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Anadys Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has selected ANA773, a novel Toll-Like Receptor-7 (TLR-7) oral prodrug, for its next clinical development program. ANA773, which is wholly owned by Anadys and falls outside any existing collaboration, is being developed as an oral therapy for the treatment of certain cancers.
"Agonists of TLR-7 have significant potential for treating a variety of diseases," said Steve Worland, Ph.D., Anadys' Executive Vice President, Research and Development. "We believe ANA773 may be effective in certain types of cancer. The selection of this compound for clinical development marks an exciting new step in our proprietary TLR-7 drug discovery and delivery platform, and underscores Anadys' creativity and productivity in advancing novel compounds into pre-clinical development and the clinic."
Anadys expects to begin Phase I clinical trials with ANA773 in the second half of 2006, continuing its stated goal of introducing a new compound into the clinic once a year.
"ANA773 is a novel prodrug of a proprietary TLR-7 agonist," said Devron R. Averett, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer. "Both the prodrug and its active substance were discovered, designed and synthesized by Anadys scientists. In preclinical studies, ANA773 has consistently demonstrated favorable biologic activity, promising pharmaceutical properties, and encouraging pharmacokinetics."
About Anadys
Anadys Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company committed to advancing patient care by discovering, developing and commercializing novel small molecule medicines for the treatment of hepatitis, other serious infections, and cancer. The Company has core expertise in Toll-Like Receptor-based small molecule therapeutics and structure-based drug design coupled with medicinal chemistry. Anadys' clinical development programs include ANA975 for the treatment of HCV and HBV, and ANA380 for the treatment of HBV. In addition, Anadys' therapeutic platform is designed to advance a strong and continual pipeline of drug candidates into the clinic.
Safe Harbor Statement
Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical in nature constitute "forward-looking statements." Such statements include, but are not limited to, references to TLR-7 agonists having significant potential to treat a variety of diseases, the belief that ANA773 may be effective in certain types of cancer, Anadys' ability to advance novel compounds into pre-clinical development and the clinic, the expectation that Anadys will begin Phase I clinical trials of ANA773 during the second half of 2006 and Anadys' ability to continue its stated goal of delivering a new compound into the clinic once a year, as well as references to the favorable biologic activity, promising pharmaceutical properties, and encouraging pharmacokinetics of ANA773. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause Anadys' actual results to be materially different from historical results or from any results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In particular, the results of pre-clinical studies and initial clinical trials may not be predictive of future results, and Anadys cannot provide any assurances that any of its product candidates will have favorable results in future clinical trials or receive regulatory approval. In addition, Anadys' results may be affected by risks related to the implementation of its collaboration with Novartis, competition from other biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, its effectiveness at managing its financial resources, its ability to successfully develop and market products, the level of effort that its collaborative partners devote to development and commercialization of its product candidates, difficulties or delays in its clinical trials, difficulties or delays in manufacturing its clinical trials materials, the scope and validity of patent protection for its products, regulatory developments involving future products and its ability to obtain additional funding to support its operations. These and other factors that may cause actual results to differ are more fully discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of Anadys' Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2005. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Anadys is providing this information as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this document as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Anadys Pharmaceuticals, Inc.CONTACT: Vince Reardon, Sr. Director, Investor Relations & CorporateCommunications of Anadys Pharmaceuticals, Inc., +1-858-530-3653,vreardon@anadyspharma.com