>>SAN MATEO, Calif., March 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SciClone Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: SCLN - news) today announced positive preliminary data from its phase 3 clinical trial in Japan using ZADAXIN as a monotherapy treatment for hepatitis B. Preliminary data on approximately one-third of the 319 patients indicate that, after 6 months of therapy and 12 months of follow up, 24% demonstrated a successful interruption of viral replication, as measured by sustained seroconversion of hepatitis B e-antigen (loss of HBeAg and the development of antibody to HBeAg). By comparison, published data on lamivudine, the drug most widely used for treatment of hepatitis B worldwide, indicate that lamivudine is capable of inducing sustained HBeAg seroconversion in 16% of Asian patients that took the drug for one year.
``We are very pleased by this preliminary data from our phase 3 hepatitis B clinical trial in Japan and expect the remaining patients to complete therapy and follow up by the end of this year,'' said Eduardo Martins, Medical Director of SciClone. ``We continue to make progress towards our goal of bringing ZADAXIN to the major pharmaceutical markets of the U.S., Europe and Japan. We are on target to start enrollment for our U.S. phase 3 hepatitis C clinical trials next month.''
On Thursday, March 7, 2002, Donald R. Sellers, President and CEO of SciClone, will be presenting at the RedChip Partners(TM) Investor Conference in Boca Raton, Florida. The presentation will be webcast live starting at 11:00 am Eastern Standard Time. The webcast can be viewed live by registering at www.redchip.com or by calling 1-800-REDCHIP (1-800-733-2447).<<
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Cheers, Tuck |
