I had noticed that Avant didn't seem to be trading today. Here's why:
>>NEEDHAM, Mass.--(BW HealthWire)--Feb. 20, 2002--AVANT Immunotherapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: AVAN - news) today announced that TP10, its lead complement inhibitor, failed to meet the primary endpoint in a double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase II study in adult patients undergoing high risk cardiac surgery.
Announcing the results, Dr. Alistair Wheeler MD, Vice President, Medical Affairs of AVANT said, ``there were no clinically important differences between placebo and any of the four dose groups in the study. A total of 564 patients were randomized into the study to receive either one of four doses (1, 3, 5 or 10 mg/kg) of TP10, or placebo, as a thirty-minute intravenous infusion and were followed for 28 days post surgery. The primary efficacy endpoint of the study was the comparison of TP10 treated patients versus placebo who experienced either death, myocardial infarction, required prolonged intubation or prolonged intra-arterial balloon pump therapy. TP10 was well tolerated with no apparent differences in the safety profiles of the treatment groups.''
``Obviously, we are extremely disappointed by the results of this study,'' said Una S. Ryan, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of AVANT Immunotherapeutics, Inc. ``We are evaluating the future of the TP10 program but we no longer plan to advance TP10 in clinical development on our own nor do we intend to put anymore AVANT resources into this program. We will try to capture what value we can for the TP10 program,'' continued Dr. Ryan.
Dr. Ryan further stated, ``We continue to focus AVANT's resources on our vaccines programs. In particular, we are pleased to be advancing the two lead products in our travelers' vaccines portfolio, CholeraGarde(TM) cholera vaccine and Ty800 typhoid vaccine, in the clinic. We are excited about developing a business franchise for safe, effective oral travelers' vaccines that can be administered with a single dose. In addition, we continue to advance CETi-1, our novel immunotherapeutic for cholesterol management, through clinical development. Finally with our partner, GlaxoSmithKline, we are developing a two-dose oral rotavirus vaccine which is expected to enter late-stage clinical studies this year.''
Dr. Ryan, Dr. Wheeler and Mr. Catlin will host a conference call at 2:00 PM EST on Wednesday, February 20, 2002 to discuss the results of the TP10 adult Phase II study. To access the conference call, dial 800-360-9865 (within the United States), or 973-694-6836 (if calling from outside the U.S.). An audio replay will be available immediately following the call for approximately one week and can be accessed by dialing 800-428-6051 (within the U.S.), or 973-709-2089 (if calling from outside the U.S.). The passcode for the audio replay is 232690.
The call will also be broadcast via the Company's website: www.avantimmune.com. In order to access the webcast, your PC must have a sound card, speakers and Windows Media Player software. It is recommended that you configure your PC in advance of the webcast as the software download and installation can take several minutes.<<
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Cheers, Tuck |
