EMERYVILLE, Calif., Sept. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Bionovo, Inc. will present an abstract in a presentation on their new drug candidate, VG101, for the treatment of vaginal dryness, at the 19th Annual Meeting of the North American Menopause Society in Orlando, Florida on September 26, 2008. Dr. Mary Tagliaferri, president and chief medical officer of Bionovo, will provide seminal information on the company’s second estrogen receptor beta selective drug candidate that will be entering clinical trials shortly. Bionovo’s drug candidate, VG101, is designed to treat postmenopausal vaginal dryness, a condition that affects over 40 million women.
The presentation will describe the mechanism of action of the company’s selective estrogen receptor (ER) beta drug candidate and explain the safety advantages of this more highly selective estrogen receptor modulator, VG101, when compared to the currently available hormonal therapies for this indication. The presentation will detail the complete analysis of VG101 in both in vivo and in vitro models as well as present the clinical trial design for their upcoming Phase 1/2 study to evaluate the preliminary safety and efficacy of VG101 in a cohort of postmenopausal women. The presentation will include direct comparisons to existing estrogen therapies, showing VG101’s superior efficacy at a cellular level.
“Vaginal dryness is a very painful, day to day, quality of life concern for over 50% of menopausal women. The only available FDA-approved treatment for women is estrogen, which has been proven to increase the risks for a number of potentially fatal diseases including breast and uterine cancers, heart disease, stroke and blood clots,” said Dr. Tagliaferri. “Independent studies have shown that the major reason postmenopausal women refrain from sexual activity is due to vaginal dryness. Considering the lack of safe treatment options for this indication, and given the data we have developed on this drug candidate, VG101 could be a superior treatment for the millions of women who want to improve both their quality of life as well as sexual functioning.”
The North American Menopause Society (NAMS) is the leading nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the health and quality of life of menopausal women. NAMS has a multidisciplinary membership of over 2,000 leaders in the field of women’s health.
About VG101
VG101 is an intravaginal drug designed for the treatment of vaginal atrophy and dryness in menopausal women. VG101 is a novel estrogen receptor beta selective agonist and unlike currently available hormone therapies, does not activate the estrogen receptor alpha, which is known to be implicated in both breast and uterine tumor formation. Phase 1/2 clinical testing of VG101, under the directorship of Dr. Deborah Grady, will commence within the next year.
Bionovo, Inc.
Bionovo is a pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of safe and effective treatments for women’s health and cancer, markets with significant unmet needs and billions in potential annual revenue. The company applies its expertise in the biology of menopause and cancer to design new drugs derived from botanical sources which have novel mechanisms of action. Based on the results of early and mid-stage clinical trials, Bionovo believes they have discovered new classes of drug candidates within their rich pipeline with the potential to be leaders in their markets. Bionovo is headquartered in Emeryville, California and is traded on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol, “BNVI”. For more information about Bionovo and its programs, visit http://www.bionovo.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to the business of Bionovo, Inc. that can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “believes,” “expects,” or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including uncertainties relating to product development, efficacy and safety, regulatory actions or delays, the ability to obtain or maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual property protection, market acceptance, physician acceptance, third party reimbursement, future capital requirements, competition in general and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Certain of these risks and uncertainties are or will be described in greater detail in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available at http://www.sec.gov. Bionovo, Inc. is under no obligation (and expressly disclaims any such obligation) to update or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
CONTACT: Investors, Lauren Glaser of The Trout Group, +1-415-392-3310,
lglaser@troutgroup.com, For Bionovo, Inc.; or Media, Tom Chesterman of
Bionovo, Inc., +1-510-420-4189, investor@bionovo.com
Web site: http://www.bionovo.com//
