LEIDEN, THE NETHERLANDS--(Marketwire - November 01, 2010) - OctoPlus N.V. ("OctoPlus" or the "Company") (Euronext: OCTO) announces that its licensee Biolex Therapeutics will present today positive results from two Phase IIb trials further demonstrating the strong anti-viral response and tolerability advantages of the 480 µg dose of Locteron® in the treatment of hepatitis C. In the Phase IIb trials, patients directly reported flu-like adverse events on a daily basis through an electronic patient-reported outcome (ePRO) system, and the results demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in the frequency and severity of flu-like adverse events and reduced use of concomitant (analgesic/antipyretic) medications for patients treated with Locteron compared to patients treated with the PEG-Intron® control. These benefits were already visible in the first week of treatment.
Simon Sturge, CEO of OctoPlus, says: "These positive tolerability results further show the benefits of our PolyActive® controlled release technology. The use of PolyActive in Locteron is responsible for the slow release of interferon in the patient's body, which reduces the flu-like side effects induced by current interferon products. Together with its reduced injection frequency and the reduced rate of depression that was presented earlier, these results position Locteron as the interferon of choice in future direct-acting anti-viral combination therapies."
The following information was taken directly from Biolex' press release, for detailed results we refer to www.biolex.com.
AASLD presentation
The EMPOWER ePRO and clinical-site tolerability results will be presented today by the lead author, Walker Long, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Vice President, Drug Development, Biolex Therapeutics, in the form of a poster titled "Adverse Event Reporting During HCV Treatment Via Weekly Clinic Visits Substantially Underestimates Flu Frequency & Severity Compared to Daily ePRO: Results From 133 Patients in EMPOWER" during a late-breaker session at the 61st Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) in Boston.
"The EMPOWER results are notable in that they show a statistically significant reduction of flu-like adverse events for Locteron confirmed by two sources, the clinical site assessments and the daily patient reporting of side effects through the ePRO System. The reductions in the percent of patients using analgesics and in overall analgesic use observed in the Locteron group provide additional support for improved tolerability on Locteron," said Dr. Long. "These results complement the positive results released last week from our SELECT-2 Phase IIb trial in which we showed statistically significant reductions in flu-like adverse events for three different Locteron doses, and substantial reductions in depression for the Locteron 480 and 320 µg doses."
For further information, please contact:
Rianne Roukema, Corporate Communications: telephone number +31 (71) 524 1071, or send an e-mail to Investor Relations at IR@octoplus.nl.
About Locteron Locteron is a controlled release formulation of interferon alpha for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C. Locteron combines OctoPlus' controlled release drug delivery technology PolyActive® with Biolex' interferon alpha and is the most advanced product in clinical development incorporating one of OctoPlus' proprietary drug delivery technologies. OctoPlus licensed its commercial rights to Locteron exclusively to Biolex in October 2008.
Locteron is an investigational therapeutic candidate and has not been approved for sale by the United States Food and Drug Administration or by any international regulatory agency.
About OctoPlus
OctoPlus is a drug delivery service company committed to the creation of improved pharmaceutical products that are based on OctoPlus' proprietary drug delivery technologies and have fewer side effects, improved patient convenience and a better efficacy/safety balance than existing therapies. OctoPlus focuses on the development of long-acting, controlled release versions of known protein therapeutics, other drugs, and vaccines on behalf of its clients.
The clinically most advanced product incorporating our technology is Biolex Therapeutics' lead product Locteron®, a controlled release formulation of interferon alpha for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C. OctoPlus licensed Locteron exclusively to Biolex in October 2008. Locteron is being manufactured for Biolex by OctoPlus and is currently in Phase IIb clinical studies.
In addition, OctoPlus is a leading European provider of advanced drug formulation and clinical scale manufacturing services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, with a focus on difficult-to-formulate active pharmaceutical ingredients.
OctoPlus is listed on Euronext Amsterdam by NYSE Euronext under the symbol OCTO. For more information about OctoPlus, please visit our website www.octoplus.nl.
This document may contain certain forward-looking statements relating to the business, financial performance and results of OctoPlus and the industry in which it operates. These statements are based on OctoPlus' current plans, estimates and projections, as well as its expectations of external conditions and events. In particular the words "expect," "anticipate," "predict," "estimate," "project," "plan," "may," "should," "would," "will," "intend," "believe" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We caution investors that a number of important factors, and the inherent risks and uncertainties that such statements involve, could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. In the event of any inconsistency between an English version and a Dutch version of this document, the English version will prevail over the Dutch version.
For further information, please contact:
Rianne Roukema, Corporate Communications:
+31 (71) 524 1071
Investor Relations
IR@octoplus.nl
