For immediate release: Nov 07, 2002
VANCOUVER - Inex Pharmaceuticals Corporation ("INEX"; TSX: IEX) announced today that an abstract on the company’s lead product, Onco TCS, has been accepted for presentation at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting being held in Philadelphia December 6-10, 2002. The abstracts have been made available on the ASH website at www.hematology.org.
The abstract was accepted on the first 66 evaluable patients that have completed treatment in a Phase II clinical trial evaluating Onco TCS as a first-line treatment for aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). All 66 patients responded to therapy for an overall response rate of 100%. Of the 66 patients, 65 (98%) completely responded to therapy and had all of their tumors eliminated and one patient (2%) partially responded to therapy and had their tumor volume decreased by more than 50%.
The trial is being conducted at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Dr. Alma Rodriguez, the trial’s Principle Investigator, will give a full presentation of updated data at the ASH meeting on December 9, 2002.
The current standard first-line treatment for the aggressive form of NHL is the CHOP chemotherapy combination, comprising the drugs cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin hydrochloride, Oncovin® (vincristine) and prednisone. The INEX trial is treating NHL patients with CHOP in which the Oncovin® (vincristine) component is substituted with Onco TCS, which is vincristine encapsulated inside INEX’s proprietary liposomal drug delivery technology, Transmembrane Carrier System (TCS). Patients diagnosed with B-cell lymphoma also receive Rituxan® (rituximab), a monoclonal antibody, as recently published results support its investigational use with CHOP.
Onco TCS is being evaluated in nine other human clinical trials for several cancers, including a pivotal Phase II/III trial for the treatment of relapsed aggressive NHL designed to provide the data required to file in 2003 a New Drug Application (NDA) for marketing approval with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The pivotal Phase II/III clinical trial results will be released in late November or early December.
NHL is the fifth-leading cause of cancer deaths in Canada (2,800 estimated in 2002) and the sixth-leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States (24,400 estimated in 2002), according to estimates of the national cancer institutes in Canada and the U.S. Approximately 60,000 new cases will be diagnosed in Canada and the U.S. in 2002. The number of cases of NHL diagnosed in the U.S. has increased by about 50% during the last 15 years.
INEX is a Canadian biopharmaceutical company developing and commercializing proprietary drugs and drug delivery systems to improve the treatment of cancer.
INEX investor contact:
Ian Mortimer
Director, Investor Relations
Inex Pharmaceuticals Corp.
Tel: 604.419.3200
Email: info@inexpharm.com
Website: www.inexpharm.com
INEX media contact:
Maria LoScerbo
James Hoggan & Associates Inc.
Tel: 604.739.7500
Email: mloscerbo@hoggan.com
INEX’s common shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading symbol “IEX”.
Rituxan® is a registered U.S. trademark of IDEC Pharmaceuticals Inc.
