BRANFORD, Conn., April 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CuraGen Corporation and TopoTarget A/S announced today that preliminary interim clinical data on intravenous belinostat (PXD101), a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor being investigated for the treatment of cancer, are expected to be presented at two upcoming major medical meetings.
One oral and one poster presentation discussing interim clinical results with belinostat will be made at the 2007 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, which is being hosted in Chicago, IL, June 2-5, 2007. A poster presentation will also be made at the 2007 Pan Pacific Lymphoma Conference, which is being hosted on the Island of Maui, Hawaii, June 11-15, 2007.
2007 ASCO Annual Meeting -- An oral presentation entitled, "A Phase Ib/II study of PXD101 alone and in combination with 5-fluorouracil in patients with advanced solid tumors," will be made during the conference's Clinical Science Symposium entitled Breaking the Silence of the Genome: HDAC Inhibitors on Saturday, June 2nd from 2:45 - 4:15 p.m. -- A poster presentation entitled, "A Phase I/II study of the safety and anti-cancer activity of IV-administered belinostat (PXD101) plus carboplatin (C) or paclitaxel (P), or both in patients with advanced solid tumors," will be made during the conference's Developmental Therapeutics: Molecular Therapeutics poster session on Sunday, June 3rd\from 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. 2007 Pan Pacific Lymphoma Conference -- A poster presentation entitled, "A Phase II Study of Belinostat (PXD101) in Patients with Recurrent or Refractory Cutaneous or Peripheral T-Cell Lymphoma," will be on display during the conference beginning at 7:00 a.m., Monday, June 11th through Friday, June 15th.
Reprints of the poster presentations will be made available on CuraGen's website at http://www.curagen.com, or by emailing info@curagen.com.
About Belinostat
Belinostat is a promising small molecule HDAC inhibitor being investigated for its role in the treatment of a wide range of solid and hematologic malignancies either as a single-agent, or in combination with other active anti-cancer agents, including 5-FU, carboplatin, paclitaxel, cis-retinoic acid, azacitidine and Velcade(R) (bortezomib) for Injection. HDAC inhibitors represent a new mechanistic class of anti-cancer therapeutics that target HDAC enzymes and have been shown to: arrest growth of cancer cells (including drug resistant subtypes); induce apoptosis, or programmed cell death; promote
differentiation; inhibit angiogenesis; and sensitize cancer cells to overcome drug resistance when used in combination with other anti-cancer agents.
Intravenous belinostat is currently being evaluated in multiple clinical trials as a potential treatment for multiple myeloma, T- and B-cell lymphomas, AML, mesothelioma, liver, colorectal, ovarian cancers, either alone or in combination with anti-cancer therapies. An oral formulation of belinostat is also being evaluated in a Phase I clinical trial for patients with advanced solid tumors. In August 2004, CuraGen signed a Clinical Trials Agreement with the NCI under which the NCI will sponsor several clinical trials to investigate belinostat for the treatment of various cancers, both as a single- agent and in combination chemotherapy regimens. In May 2005, TopoTarget announced the signing of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the NCI to conduct preclinical and nonclinical studies on belinostat in order to better understand its anti-tumor activity and to provide supporting information for clinical trials.
About CuraGen
CuraGen Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company developing diverse approaches, including novel protein, antibody, antibody- drug conjugate and small molecule therapeutics. By leveraging the drug development strengths cultivated over the years, CuraGen expects to make a difference by advancing its promising therapeutics to address the unmet medical needs of patients with cancer and inflammatory diseases. CuraGen is focused on bringing velafermin, belinostat and CR011-vcMMAE through clinical development, and maintains a portfolio of earlier-stage compounds that have the potential to treat cancer and inflammatory diseases. CuraGen Corporation is headquartered in Branford, Connecticut. For additional information please visit http://www.curagen.com.
About TopoTarget
TopoTarget (CSE: TOPO) is a biopharmaceutical company, headquartered in Denmark and with subsidiaries in the UK and Germany, dedicated to finding "Answers for Cancer" and developing improved cancer therapies. TopoTarget is founded and run by clinical cancer specialists and combines years of hands-on clinical experience with in-depth understanding of the molecular mechanisms of cancer. Focus lies on highly predictive cancer models and key cancer enzyme regulators (mainly HDAC, mTOR, and topoisomerase II inhibitors) and a strong development foundation has been built. TopoTarget has a broad portfolio of small molecule preclinical drug candidates and seven drugs are in clinical development, including both novel anti-cancer therapeutics and new cancer indications for existing drugs. Savene(TM) is TopoTarget's first product on the market. In addition to organic growth, TopoTarget consistently looks for opportunities to strengthen and expand its activities through acquisitions and in-licensing. For more information, please refer to http://www.topotarget.com.
Safe Harbor
Statements in this press release regarding management's future expectations, beliefs, intentions, goals, strategies, plans or prospects, including statements relating to the presentation of preliminary clinical results with intravenous belinostat may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "could increase the likelihood," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "is planned," "may," "should," "will," "will enable," "would be expected," "look forward," "may provide," "would" or similar terms, variations of such terms or the negative of those terms. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors including the risk that any one or more of CuraGen's drug development programs will not proceed as planned for technical, scientific or commercial reasons or due to patient enrollment issues or based on new information from nonclinical or clinical studies or from other sources, the success of competing products and technologies, CuraGen's stage of development as a biopharmaceutical company, government regulation and healthcare reform, technological uncertainty and product development risks, product liability exposure, uncertainty of additional funding, CuraGen's history of incurring losses and the uncertainty of achieving profitability, reliance on research collaborations and strategic alliances, competition, patent infringement claims against CuraGen's products, processes and technologies, CuraGen's ability to protect its patents and proprietary rights and uncertainties relating to commercialization rights, as well as those risks, uncertainties and factors referred to in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the section "Risk Factors," as well as other documents that may be filed by CuraGen from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As a result of such risks, uncertainties and factors, the Company's actual results may differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements discussed in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained herein. CuraGen is providing the information in this press release as of this date and assumes no obligations to update the information included in this press release or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Glenn Schulman, Pharm.D. Director of Investor Relations gschulman@curagen.com (888) 436-6642 CRGN-P
CuraGen CorporationCONTACT: Glenn Schulman, Pharm.D., Director of Investor Relations, CuraGenCorporation, +1-888-436-6642, gschulman@curagen.com
