BOULDER, Colo., Oct. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Tapestry Pharmaceuticals, Inc. , announced today a plan to focus all of its resources on advancing TPI 287’s on-going and previously announced clinical trials. As part of the strategic plan, Tapestry is reducing its employee base by 28 percent. The Company expects to eliminate 14 positions including executive and non-executive employees in all areas of operations. All clinical development staff remains with the Company.
“We continue to recruit patients for TPI 287’s prostate and pancreatic cancer trials and we are moving forward with plans to initiate several other, previously announced studies,” said Leonard P. Shaykin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Tapestry Pharmaceuticals. “Tapestry expects to report encouraging data from the Phase II prostate trial during our quarterly earnings call on November 5th and at our presentation at the Rodman & Renshaw conference in New York City on the same day.”
Tapestry expects savings from this downsizing of personnel, and other cost saving measures, to total approximately $11 million (excluding the impact of eliminated capital expenditures) through the end of 2008. There will be a one-time cost of approximately $470,000 to implement this downsizing.
About TPI 287
TPI 287, a proprietary next-generation taxane, is Tapestry’s lead clinical compound. This compound was designed to overcome multiple drug resistance in solid tumors that are innately resistant to taxane therapy or have become resistant to taxanes following exposure to chemotherapy drugs. In preclinical testing, TPI 287 demonstrated the ability to inhibit tumor cell growth in a number of in vitro cell lines and has shown inhibition of human tumor growth in certain animal xenograft models when tested against standard comparative agents. The in vitro activity was seen across multiple cell lines including cell lines known to be sensitive to taxanes as well as cell lines known to be resistant to taxanes. Taxane sensitive cell lines in which TPI 287 has shown activity include cell lines derived from breast cancer, uterine cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. Taxane resistant cell lines in which TPI 287 has shown activity include cell lines derived from breast cancer, colon cancer and prostate cancer.
About Tapestry Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Tapestry Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of proprietary therapies for the treatment of cancer.
For more information about Tapestry and its technologies, visit Tapestry’s website at www.tapestrypharma.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements” that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward- looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as “opportunities,” “trends,” “potential,” “estimates,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “hopes,” “plans” or comparable terminology or by discussions of strategy. Such forward-looking statements include the statements relating to the activity of TPI 287 in resistant tumors and the progress of TPI 287 in clinical trials. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward- looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include risks that clinical trials for TPI 287 will be delayed due to institutional approvals, patient recruitment, formulation and manufacturing difficulties, delays in finalizing and receiving approval of protocols, negotiations with regulatory agencies, or other factors; that human clinical trials may show that TPI 287 is unsafe and/or ineffective in treating cancer in humans. General implementation risks associated with development of TPI 287 include those that we are blocked or limited in the development of TPI 287 because of the intellectual property rights of third parties; that we are limited in our ability to obtain, maintain and enforce our own intellectual property; that development of TPI 287 is delayed or terminated because the costs of further development exceed its value; and that the Company’s resources will be insufficient to continue development, whether as a result of the Company’s inability to raise additional cash or otherwise. Additional risks, uncertainties and other factors are identified under the captions “Risk Factors” and “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in the Company’s reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the periods ended March 28, 2007, and June 27, 2007. The Company cautions investors not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new or additional information, future events or otherwise.
glink@tapestrypharma.comlaura@sternir.comtapestry@schwartz-pr.com
CONTACT: Gordon Link, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer of
Tapestry Pharmaceuticals, Inc., +1-303-516-8500, glink@tapestrypharma.com;
Investors, Laura Perry, Stern Investor Relations, Inc., +1-212-362-1200,
laura@sternir.com; Media, Lloyd Benson or Dana Conti of Schwartz
Communications, +1-781-684-0770, tapestry@schwartz-pr.com
Web site: http://www.tapestrypharma.com/
