>>NEW HAVEN, Conn., Oct. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CuraGen Corporation (Nasdaq: CRGN - News) today announced it has advanced CR011, a fully human monoclonal antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), which will be investigated as a potential treatment for metastatic melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer. CuraGen anticipates that this promising therapeutic will enter clinical trials during the first half of 2006.
"Patients with metastatic melanoma have limited treatment options and a grave prognosis, but early results with CR011 from animal studies suggest that this ADC therapeutic may be able to shrink human melanoma tumors," stated Timothy M. Shannon, M.D., Executive Vice President Research and Development and Chief Medical Officer at CuraGen. "We anticipate presenting this preclinical data at a scientific conference during the first half of 2005, and look forward to advancing CR011 into the clinic where we hope to observe potential response in Phase I clinical trials for patients with metastatic disease."
CR011 is an ADC that utilizes technology licensed from Seattle Genetics to attach potent cell-killing payloads to a fully-human monoclonal antibody being developed by CuraGen that was generated by Abgenix's technology. CR011 is designed to be stable in the bloodstream. It targets and binds to specific molecules located on the surface of cancer cells that were identified by CuraGen. The drug payload is subsequently released from the fully human monoclonal antibody once it is inside the cancer cell. Initial studies conducted with this potential therapeutic demonstrate that CR011 produces strong, reproducible effects against cancer in animal models of melanoma.
CR011 was generated using Abgenix's Xenomouse® technology and is the second fully human monoclonal antibody that CuraGen is advancing toward clinical development. CuraGen's first antibody selected for clinical development was CR002, for the treatment of kidney inflammation, and is expected to enter Phase I by the end of 2004. CuraGen also anticipates advancing CG53135, a protein therapeutic being investigated for the prevention of oral mucositis, into Phase II later this year, and PXD101, a promising histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor for the treatment of multiple cancers, into Phase II during the first half of 2005.
About Melanoma
Melanoma is a very serious form of skin cancer that accounts for the majority of skin-cancer related deaths each year. The number of people diagnosed with melanoma worldwide is rapidly increasing with more than 53,000 new cases diagnosed annually in the U.S. While the chance of developing melanoma increases with age, it remains one of the most common cancers in young adults. This type of cancer begins in specific cells in the skin and can metastasize, or spread, throughout the body to many organ systems. No significant advances in the treatment of metastatic melanoma have occurred over the past 30 years. Patients with stage 4 metastatic melanoma have a median survival of 6 - 9 months.<<
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