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Biotech / Medical : Imclone systems (IMCL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Anthony@Pacific who wrote (675)	4/12/1999 1:48:00 PM
From: Market Tracker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2515

HOUSTON--(BW HealthWire)--April 12, 1999-- Dr.John Mendelsohn, president of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, will receive the Joseph H. Burchenal AACR Clinical Research Award during the 90th annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Philadelphia. The award, to be presented at noon Monday, April 12 in the Pennsylvania Convention Center, honors Dr. Mendelsohn for "an extraordinary list of accomplishments" that range from fundamental contributions in basic and translational cancer research to building and fostering some of the strongest clinical cancer research programs in the United States. In particular, the award cites his "pioneering work" in elucidating the roles of growth factors and receptors in cell regulation and proliferation. Dr. Mendelsohn and his team are credited with forging a landmark new strategy for battling cancer-blocking growth factor receptors. Working with Dr. Gordon Sato at the University of California San Diego, Dr. Mendelsohn's group first reported in 1983 their success in showing that a monoclonal antibody could block growth factor receptors and prevent a crucial step in cancer cell proliferation. Their early "proof of concept" experiments set the stage for a major surge of interest and research that has resulted in new therapies. "Receptor blockade therapy is adding a new aramentarium to cancer therapy. I expect over the next few years that combining this method with proven chemotherapy and radiation therapy will help extend our treatment options for many types of cancer," Dr. Mendelsohn said. Much of Dr. Mendelsohn's research over the past two decades has focused on epidermal growth factor (EGF) and its receptors. His research has been at the forefront in developing effective antibodies to block the stimulatory effect of EGF receptors. Dr. Mendelsohn began this line of research at the University of California San Diego (UCSD), where he was the founding director of a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center from 1976 to 1985. He and Dr. Sato reported in 1983 how monoclonal antibodies could block the binding of EGF to its receptors, thereby averting a crucial molecular step in cancer cell proliferation. A year later, they demonstrated that treatment with anti-EGF receptor antibodies could inhibit the growth of human tumor cells transplanted into athymic (nude) mice in the laboratory. After becoming chairman of the Department of Medicine at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in 1985, Dr. Mendelsohn continued and expanded his receptor blockade research, both in the laboratory and in early clinical studies. For several years, Dr. Mendelsohn has worked with ImClone Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ: IMCL.O), a New York biopharmaaceutical firm, to move his promising antibody findings from the laboratory to clinical trials. The C225 antibody, which is a descendent of his group's original antibody, has become the company's leading candidate for novel forms of cancer therapy. Clinical studies at several institutions, including M.D. Anderson, have shown that combining C225 with either chemotherapy or radiation can substantially increase tumor regression over the anti-cancer drugs or radiation alone. Dr. Mendelsohn said he is "encouraged" by the expanding clinical application of his receptor blockade theory initially hypothesized in the early 1980s. Approximately one-third of all human cancers have high levels of EGF receptors, making these molecules ideal targets for therapy. New treatments targeting the HER-2 receptor that is closely related to the EGF receptor are yielding positive results in patients with advanced breast cancer. Upon becoming the president of M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in 1996, Dr. Mendelsohn recruited two former post-doctoral trainees, who have set up independent laboratories to expand studies of cell growth regulation and with whom he collaborates closely to extend his research. He also continues as the founding editor-in-chief of Clinical Cancer Research, a translational research journal published monthly by the American Association for Cancer Research. The Burchenal Award is named for Dr. Joseph H. Burchenal, a past AACR president and distinguished clinical scientist. The award is sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb Oncology. --30--al/ny* CONTACT: M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston Julie A. Penne, 713/792-0662 or Burns McClellan, New York (Financial Media) Jason Farber, 212/213-0006