SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: HALO - News) announced deprioritization of its Bisphosphonate-PH20 Phase 1 program for osteoporosis. Halozyme management has decided to deploy resources to its other more commercially attractive internal programs in endocrinology, oncology, and dermatology.
Preclinical data presented by Halozyme Therapeutics at the 2008 American Association of Cancer Research meeting noted that bisphosphonates formulated for intravenous administration cause severe injection site reactions (ISRs) when administered locally. While Halozyme successfully completed dosing for eight cohorts of varying concentrations of bisphosphonate in combination with PH20, the occurrence of mild to moderate ISRs at commercially attractive volumes and dosing schedules exceeded the company’s predefined benchmarks for moving forward.
“We have a rigorous portfolio management process designed to support the development and commercialization of first in class or best in class products,” stated Jonathan Lim, M.D., Halozyme’s president and CEO. “Based on this open label study, the results do not justify further development of Bisphosphonate-PH20 for osteoporosis. We will reallocate our resources to more commercially attractive product candidates in Halozyme’s portfolio.”
About Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc.
Halozyme is a biopharmaceutical company developing and commercializing products targeting the extracellular matrix for the endocrinology, oncology, dermatology and drug delivery markets. The company’s portfolio of products and product candidates is based on intellectual property covering the family of human enzymes known as hyaluronidases and additional enzymes that affect the extracellular matrix. Halozyme’s Enhanze™ Technology is a novel drug delivery platform designed to increase the absorption and dispersion of biologics. The company has key partnerships with Roche to apply Enhanze Technology to Roche’s biological therapeutics for up to 13 targets and with Baxter BioScience to apply Enhanze Technology to Baxter’s biological therapeutic compound, GAMMAGARD LIQUID™. The product candidates in Halozyme’s research pipeline target multiple areas of significant unmet medical need. For more information visit www.halozyme.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
In addition to historical information, the statements set forth above include forward-looking statements (including, without limitation, statements relating to clinical trial results and conclusions, the company’s portfolio management process and the reallocation of corporate assets to other programs) that involve risk and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are also identified through use of the words “believe,” “enable,” “may,” “will,” “could,” “intends,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “plan,” “predict,” “probable,” “potential,” “possible,” “should,” “continue,” and other words of similar meaning. Actual results could differ materially from the expectations contained in forward-looking statements as a result of several factors, including regulatory approval requirements and competitive conditions. These and other factors that may result in differences are discussed in greater detail in the company’s reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q, and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Contact:
Halozyme Robert H. Uhl Senior Director, Investor Relations 858-704-8264 ruhl@halozyme.com
