Appointments Strengthen Expertise in Immunotherapy of Cancer
BETHESDA, Md., March 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Micromet, Inc. , a biopharmaceutical company developing novel, proprietary antibodies for the treatment of cancer, inflammation and autoimmune diseases, today announced the the appointment of Sir Walter Bodmer and Bernard Fox to its BiTE antibody advisory panel. Other members of the company’s advisory panel include professors Richard Flavell (Yale University), Michael Keating (MD Anderson), Ronald Levy (Stanford University), Jeffrey Ravetch (Rockefeller University), and Anthony Tolcher (START).
Sir Walter Bodmer holds a Ph.D. degree from Cambridge University, UK, and, among several other appointments, was Chair of Genetics of Oxford University, Director-General of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF), President of the International Human Genome Organization (HUGO), President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and Chancellor of the University of Salford. He retired as Principal of Hertford College, Oxford, where he continues scientific work at the Cancer and Immunogenetics Laboratory of the Weatherall Institute. Sir Walter Bodmer did seminal work in the area of bacterial genetics, molecular and biochemical analysis of the HLA system and its association with disease, differentiation and malignant transformation of colonic epithelial cells, and has profound expertise in immunotherapeutic targets CEA and EpCAM, which are being targeted by Micromet’s product candidates adecatumumab, MT110 and MT111/MEDI-565.
Bernard Fox is President of the International Society for the Biological Therapy of Cancer, and Chief of the Laboratory of Molecular and Tumor Immunology at the Robert W. Franz Cancer Research Center, in the Earle A. Chiles Research Institute of Providence Cancer Center, Portland, Oregon. He holds a Ph.D. degree from Wayne State University, Detroit, and did postdoctoral training at the Surgery Branch, Division of Cancer Treatment, of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), NIH. He has appointments as Associate Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the School of Medicine of the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), and Leader, Tumor Immunology Focus Panel, OHSU Knight Cancer Institute. Prof. Fox participated as principal and co-investigator in numerous clinical trials exploring novel immunotherapeutic approaches. He has particular expertise in the role T cells play in cancer therapy.
“We are very pleased with the addition of two internationally recognized scientists with long-standing expertise in cancer immunotherapy to our advisory panel,” commented Christian Itin, president and CEO of Micromet. “Sir Walter Bodmer and Bernard Fox have unique experience in key areas relevant for the development of new BiTE antibodies for the treatment of cancer.”
About Micromet
Micromet, Inc. (www.micromet-inc.com) is a biopharmaceutical company with offices in Bethesda, MD and Munich, Germany. The Company is focused on developing novel, proprietary antibodies for the treatment of cancer, inflammation and autoimmune diseases. The Company’s novel antibody technology is based on its proprietary BiTE(R) antibody platform, representing a new class of antibodies that specifically activate T cells from the patient’s own immune system to eliminate cancer cells or other disease related cells. Four of the Company’s antibodies are currently in clinical trials, with the remainder of its product pipeline in preclinical development. The Company’s lead program is a BiTE antibody known as blinatumomab, or MT103. It is in a phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and a phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Micromet’s second BiTE antibody in clinical development is MT110, which targets the epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM). The Company owns all rights to MT110, which is currently in a phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of patients with solid tumors. The Company’s third clinical stage antibody is adecatumumab, also known as MT201, a traditional human monoclonal antibody that targets EpCAM-expressing solid tumors. Micromet is developing adecatumumab in collaboration with Merck Serono in a phase 1b clinical trial evaluating adecatumumab in combination with docetaxel for the treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer. Micromet licensed a fourth clinical stage antibody, MT293, to TRACON Pharmaceuticals, Inc. MT293 is being developed in a phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of patients with cancer. The Company’s preclinical programs include MT203 being developed in collaboration with Nycomed. MT203 is a traditional human antibody neutralizing the activity of granulocyte/macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), which has potential applications in the treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, or multiple sclerosis. Micromet has granted an exclusive option to Bayer Schering Pharma AG to license a BiTE antibody against an undisclosed solid tumor target. Additional BiTE antibodies, targeting CEA, CD33, Her2, EGFR and MCSP, respectively, are in different stages of preclinical development.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains certain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include statements regarding the efficacy, safety and intended utilization of our product candidates, the development of our BiTE antibody technology, the return of development and commercialization rights to blinatumomab, the future development of blinatumomab and a new BiTE antibody binding to CD19, the conduct, timing and results of future clinical trials, expectations of the future expansion of our product pipeline and collaborations, our plans regarding future presentations of clinical data, our expectations of timing for the publication of results from our research and development programs, our ability to draw down on the Committed Equity Financing Facility with Kingsbridge, and our plans regarding collaborations and other partnering activities. You are urged to consider statements that include the words “ongoing,” “may,” “will,” “believes,” “potential,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “intends,” or the negative of those words or other similar words to be uncertain and forward-looking. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from any future results expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements include the risk that product candidates that appeared promising in early research, preclinical studies or clinical trials do not demonstrate safety and/or efficacy in subsequent clinical trials, the risk that encouraging results from early research, preclinical studies or clinical trials may not be confirmed upon further analysis of the detailed results of such research, preclinical study or clinical trial, the risk that additional information relating to the safety, efficacy or tolerability of our product candidates may be discovered upon further analysis of preclinical or clinical trial data, the risk that we or our collaborators will not obtain approval to market our product candidates, the risks associated with reliance on outside financing to meet capital requirements, and the risks associated with reliance on collaborators, including MedImmune, Merck Serono, TRACON and Nycomed, for the funding or conduct of further development and commercialization activities relating to our product candidates. These factors and others are more fully discussed in Micromet’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008, filed with the SEC on March 16, 2009, as well as other filings by the company with the SEC.
CONTACT: US Media: Andrea tenBroek or Chris Stamm, +1-781-684-0770,
micromet@schwartz-pr.com; or for US Investors: Susan Noonan,
+1-212-966-3650, susan@sanoonan.com; or for European Media: Ludger Wess,
+49-40-8816-5964, ludger@akampion.com; or for European Investors:
Ines-Regina Buth, +49-30-2363-2768, ines@akampion.com
Web site: http://www.micromet-inc.com/
