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Biotech / Medical : Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ALXN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Icebrg who wrote (395)	12/18/2003 7:47:55 AM
From: Icebrg	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 824

XOMA and Millennium Announce Initiation of Phase I Clinical Trial of MLN2222 -- a.k.a. CAB-2 -- a Novel Complement Inhibitor Thursday December 18, 7:31 am ET BERKELEY, Calif. & CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 18, 2003-- Potential Therapeutic Option for Patients Undergoing Heart Bypass Surgery XOMA Ltd. (Nasdaq:XOMA - News) and Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:MLNM - News) today announced the initiation of a phase I clinical trial with the complement inhibitor MLN2222 (also known as CAB-2). Complement activation is believed to contribute to harmful inflammatory responses to heart bypass surgery that can result in significant complications; MLN2222 is being developed to reduce the incidence of death and heart attacks in patients undergoing procedures involving the use of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), a heart-lung bypass machine. MLN2222 is a novel, proprietary recombinant protein that blocks both the C3 and C5 convertases, which are essential components of the complement activation pathway. This trial is the first of two planned phase I trials and will evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of MLN2222 in healthy volunteers. The overall phase I program, which will be conducted in the United States, will involve approximately 100 healthy volunteers and coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery patients. "We believe MLN2222 is a promising product candidate and are pleased that we've fulfilled our goal for 2003 by moving it into clinical testing," said John L. Castello, XOMA's chairman, president and chief executive officer. "This has been a joint effort with Millennium and presents us with another opportunity to highlight our collaboration strategy, leveraging the strengths of both companies to support the product development program." "The development of MLN2222 builds on our deep understanding of the relationship between inflammatory response and cardiovascular injury, as well as our established development strengths in cardiovascular disease," said Nancy Simonian, M.D., senior vice president, clinical development at Millennium. "We are hopeful that MLN2222 will one day help to improve outcomes for the many patients undergoing heart bypass surgery." [Maybe they believe they have figured out the reason for the beneficial effects sometimes seen when using complement inhibition in CABG. Anyone with an idea how this molecule separates itself from pexe? Is this more of a TP10-like product?].