SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Nov. 17, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OXiGENE, Inc. (Nasdaq:OXGN) (Stockholm:OXGN), a clinical-stage, biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics to treat cancer and eye diseases, today reported positive interim safety data from the FALCON (Fosbretabulin in Advanced Lung Oncology) study, a Phase 2, randomized, controlled study of ZYBRESTAT (fosbretabulin) in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The data from this planned interim safety analysis indicated that the combination of fosbretabulin with carboplatin and paclitaxel plus bevacizumab (Avastin(R)) appeared to be well-tolerated, and that there were no significant overlapping toxicities with bevacizumab. Notably, 5 of the 6 patient deaths during the evaluation period were due to disease progression and occurred in the control arm. The data were presented in a poster by Edward Garon, M.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, principal investigator for the Phase 2 trial, at the 2009 AACR-NCI-EORTC Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics conference. A further analysis of the efficacy and tolerability of this novel combination is expected to be presented at the 2010 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), scheduled for June 4-8, 2010 in Chicago, IL.
