LOS ANGELES, Oct. 30, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- CytRx Corporation (NASDAQ: CYTR), a biopharmaceutical research and development company specializing in oncology, today announced an upcoming presentation highlighting its novel technology and its lead drug candidate, aldoxorubicin. The presentation, titled, “Drug Conjugates Bind Covalently to Albumin: A New Approach,” will be given by Sant P. Chawla, M.D., F.R.A.C.P., Director of the Sarcoma Oncology Center and principal investigator of the Company’s ongoing global, pivotal Phase 3 aldoxorubicin clinical trial in second-line soft tissue sarcoma, at the 2014 Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium, which is being held November 5-7, 2014 in New York City.
Dr. Chawla’s presentation will provide an overview of the importance of albumin as a means of concentrating anti-cancer drugs in tumors along with previously reported clinical data on aldoxorubicin, the first drug to use covalent binding to albumin to direct the chemotherapeutic doxorubicin to treat solid malignancies.
“We greatly appreciate the opportunity to present this information on the albumin-binding technology behind aldoxorubicin at such a highly respected, invitation only oncology meeting,” said Dr. Chawla. “We view this as an important opportunity to increase understanding of albumin-linked chemotherapeutic agents and build awareness for the ongoing aldoxorubicin program.”
About the Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium
The Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium is jointly provided by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Chemotherapy Foundation, a non-profit organization supporting cancer research. The Symposium is a multi-specialty cancer conference bringing advances in treatment that meet the learning needs of practicing oncologists in academia and community medicine while providing unique applications of electronic enhancements to a medical education activity.
About Aldoxorubicin
The widely used chemotherapeutic agent doxorubicin is delivered systemically and is highly toxic, which limits its dose to a level below its maximum therapeutic benefit. Doxorubicin also is associated with many side effects, especially the potential for damage to heart muscle at cumulative doses greater than 450 mg/m2. Aldoxorubicin combines doxorubicin with a novel single-molecule linker that binds directly and specifically to circulating albumin, the most plentiful protein in the bloodstream. Protein-hungry tumors concentrate albumin, thus increasing the delivery of the linker molecule with the attached doxorubicin to tumor sites. In the acidic environment of the tumor, but not the neutral environment of healthy tissues, doxorubicin is released. This allows for greater doses (3 ½ to 4 times) of doxorubicin to be administered while reducing its toxic side effects. In studies thus far there has been no evidence of clinically significant effects of aldoxorubicin on heart muscle, even at cumulative doses of drug well in excess of 2,000 mg/m2.
About CytRx Corporation
CytRx Corporation is a biopharmaceutical research and development company specializing in oncology. CytRx currently is focused on the clinical development of aldoxorubicin (formerly known as INNO-206), its improved version of the widely used chemotherapeutic agent doxorubicin. CytRx has initiated under a special protocol assessment a pivotal Phase 3 global trial with aldoxorubicin as a therapy for patients with soft tissue sarcomas whose tumors have progressed following treatment with chemotherapy, and recently announced that it has received approval from the FDA to continue dosing patients with aldoxorubicin until disease progression in that clinical trial. CytRx is currently evaluating aldoxorubicin in a global Phase 2b clinical trial in small cell lung cancer, a Phase 2 clinical trial in HIV-related Kaposi’s sarcoma, a Phase 2 clinical trial in patients with late-stage glioblastoma (brain cancer), a Phase 1b trial in combination with ifosfamide in patients with soft tissue sarcoma, and a Phase 1b trial in combination with gemcitabine in subjects with metastatic solid tumors. CytRx has completed a global Phase 2b clinical trial with aldoxorubicin as a first-line therapy for soft tissue sarcomas, a Phase 1b/2 clinical trial primarily in the same indication, a Phase 1b clinical trial of aldoxorubicin in combination with doxorubicin in patients with advanced solid tumors and a Phase 1b pharmacokinetics clinical trial in patients with metastatic solid tumors. CytRx plans to expand its pipeline of oncology candidates at its laboratory facilities in Freiburg, Germany, based on novel linker technologies that can be utilized with multiple chemotherapeutic agents and may allow for greater concentration of drug at tumor sites. For more information about CytRx Corporation, visit www.cytrx.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the events or results described in the forward-looking statements, including risks relating to the outcome, timing and results of CytRx’s clinical trials, the timing or FDA approval of projected commercial sales of aldoxorubicin, the risk that any future human testing of aldoxorubicin might not produce results similar to those seen in past human or animal testing, risks related to CytRx’s ability to manufacture its drug candidates in a timely fashion, cost-effectively or in commercial quantities in compliance with stringent regulatory requirements, risks related to CytRx’s need for additional capital or strategic partnerships to fund its ongoing working capital needs and development efforts, including the Phase 3 clinical development of aldoxorubicin, risks related to lawsuits that have been brought against the Company and its officers and/or directors for alleged violations of the securities laws, and the risks and uncertainties described in the most recent annual and quarterly reports filed by CytRx with the Securities and Exchange Commission and current reports filed since the date of CytRx’s most recent annual report. All forward-looking statements are based upon information available to CytRx on the date the statements are first published. CytRx undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Investor Relations:
Argot Partners
Michelle Carroll
212.600.1902
michelle@argotpartners.com
Media:
Argot Partners
Eliza Schleifstein
973.361.1546
eliza@argotpartners.com
Company Contact:
CytRx Corporation
David J. Haen
Vice President, Business Development and Investor Relations
310-826-5648, x304
haen@cytrx.com
SOURCE CytRx Corporation
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