SEATTLE and REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Dec. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
Trubion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Facet Biotech Corp. today announced the presentation of positive data from a phase 1 study of TRU-016 in patients with relapsed and refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) at the 2009 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting. TRU-016 is a CD37-directed Small Modular ImmunoPharmaceutical (SMIP(TM)) protein therapeutic in development for the treatment of B-cell malignancies.
“Unlike other peptide therapies that target CD20, TRU-016 targets CD37 and mediates both immune-mediated death and direct killing through a novel mechanism,” said John Byrd, M.D., Interim co-director, Division of Hematology-Oncology, and Professor of Leukemia Research, Department of Internal Medicine at The Ohio State University. “The favorable toxicity profile and clinical activity with TRU-016 observed to date in this study suggests it has potential to be a major contributor to combination strategies that are impacting CLL treatment outcome.”
“TRU-016 continues to demonstrate activity in clinical trials, and it has the potential to be a meaningful therapeutic. Because it targets CD37, TRU-016 uses a different mechanism of action than currently available CD20-directed therapies. There is significant clinical need for effective therapies in CLL without toxicity burdens, especially given that the median age of CLL patients is over 65 years of age,” said Scott C. Stromatt, M.D., senior vice president and chief medical officer at Trubion.
Also at ASH, data were presented from a preclinical study of Trubion’s proprietary TRU-ADhanCe(TM) technology. TRU-ADhanCe technology is a proprietary, additive method designed to enhance the potency of existing therapies that work through Fc-directed or antibody-directed cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC).
About Trubion
Trubion is a biopharmaceutical company that is creating a pipeline of novel protein therapeutic product candidates to treat autoimmune and inflammatory diseases and cancer. The Company’s mission is to develop a variety of first-in-class and best-in-class product candidates, customized for optimal safety, efficacy and convenience that it believes may offer improved patient experiences. Trubion’s current product candidates are novel single-chain protein, or SMIP, therapeutics, and are designed using its custom drug assembly technology. Trubion’s product pipeline includes CD20-directed SMIP therapeutics such as TRU-015 and SBI-087 for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, developed under the Company’s Pfizer collaboration. Trubion’s product pipeline also includes TRU-016, a novel CD37-targeted therapy for the treatment of B-cell malignancies developed under the company’s Facet Biotech collaboration. In addition to Trubion’s current clinical stage product pipeline, the Company is also developing its multi-specific SCORPION technology, both for targeting cell-surface molecules like CD79b and HLA-DR, as well as simultaneously neutralizing soluble ligands like TNF and IL-6. More information is available in the investors section of Trubion’s website: http://investors.trubion.com/index.cfm.
Trubion Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this release may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933. These statements include, but are not limited to, those related to the potential development and commercialization of TRU-016. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions regarding future events and business performance and involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These risks include, but are not limited to, risks associated with the clinical development of TRU-016, and such other risks as identified in the Company’s quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2009, and from time to time in other reports filed by Trubion with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. These reports are available on the Investors page of the company’s corporate website at http://www.trubion.com. Trubion undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in the Company’s expectations.
TRBN-016CLL
CONTACT: Jim DeNike, Senior Director, Corporate Communications of Trubion
Pharmaceuticals, Inc., +1-206-838-0500, jdenike@trubion.com; or Jean Suzuki
of Facet Biotech Corp., +1-650-454-2648, jean.suzuki@facetbiotech.com; or
Amy Petty, Senior Account Executive of Waggener Edstrom Worldwide
Healthcare, +1-617-576-5788, amyp@waggeneredstrom.com, for Trubion
Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Web site: http://www.facetbiotech.com/
http://www.trubion.com/
