New Study Demonstrates Prognostic Value of the EpCAM Tumor Antigen in Ovarian Cancer
Support of EpCAM-targeted therapies for the treatment of solid tumors
Carlsbad, CA – May 30, 2006 – Micromet, Inc. (NASDAQ: MITI), a transatlantic biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of antibody-based drugs, reports results of a scientific study (1) published in Gynecological Oncology. The findings demonstrate overexpression of the epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) as an independent prognostic marker in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). The study was a collaboration of Micromet with the Universities of Innsbruck and Linz, both Austria, and Basel, Switzerland.
The retrospective study analyzed primary tumor samples from EOC patients at various stages and grades of the disease for the level and frequency of EpCAM expression. Samples of 199 patients were analyzed, 91 of which were at advanced stages of the disease (grade 3). The frequency of high-level EpCAM expression for all samples was close to 70%, and 83.5% for samples from patients with grade 3 tumors. In the entire patient population, EpCAM overexpression was significantly associated with reduced overall survival. Median overall survival of patients with EpCAM overexpression was only half compared to that of patients whose tumors did not express EpCAM (23 versus 46 months, p<0.01).
"This study strongly supports an active role of EpCAM in the development and progression of solid tumors," comments Patrick Baeuerle, Chief Scientific Officer of Micromet. "A negative correlation of EpCAM expression with patient survival has previously been reported for breast, bile duct and gall bladder cancers. Antibody-based cytotoxic therapies against EpCAM may therefore target a particularly aggressive tumor cell population with the potential to positively affect patient survival."
Micromet's pipeline contains two drug candidates targeting EpCAM. One is the human antibody adecatumumab (MT201), which currently is in phase 2 trials for the treatment of breast and prostate cancer in collaboration with Serono. The other one is MT110, a representative of the BiTE® class, which is in preclinical development. |
