Medarex Announces Clinical Data for MDX-1401 in Hodgkin's Lymphoma at Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research
PRINCETON, N.J., April 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Medarex, Inc. (Nasdaq: MEDX - News) today announced preliminary data from an ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial of MDX-1401 in patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) that demonstrated both clinical and immunological activity signals. MDX-1401 is a fully human, non-fucosylated antibody that targets CD30, a marker for activated lymphocytes that is present on malignant cells of HL as well as other CD30-expressing cancers. Results from the study were presented in a poster session (Abstract #1227) at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), held April 18-22, 2009 in Colorado.
An ongoing multi-dose, dose-escalation Phase 1 trial of MDX-1401 in patients with relapsed or refractory HL is being conducted to establish and evaluate the safety profile and initial efficacy of MDX-1401. Preliminary data from the Phase 1 trial demonstrate that multiple doses (ranging from 0.01 to 1.0 mg/kg) of MDX-1401 in patients with HL were generally safe and well-tolerated. Two of the 8 patients with stable disease had a reduction of 40 percent or more in tumor burden after two treatment cycles of MDX-1401. In addition, flow cytometry indicated decreased circulating CD30 positive cells in 83 percent of patients (10/12) after one cycle of four weekly intravenous infusions.
"We find these preliminary safety and efficacy data for our second generation anti-CD30 antibody encouraging," said Geoffrey M. Nichol, MBChB, Senior Vice President of Product Development at Medarex. "We are currently enrolling additional patients at higher dose levels and look forward to examining further results from the ongoing Phase 1 trial."
Information about the AACR and its Annual Meeting may be found at www.aacr.org.
About MDX-1401
MDX-1401 is a second-generation anti-CD30 antibody where fucose (a sugar structure) is absent, thereby increasing the antibody's antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity, or ADCC, activity (using the Potelligent® Technology of BioWa, Inc.). In preclinical studies, MDX-1401 has shown improved antibody effector function over a first generation anti-CD30 antibody. The ongoing Phase 1 trial of MDX-1401 continues to enroll patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma to further characterize the clinical profile of the fully human, non-fucosylated antibody. |
