SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., July 21, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mateon Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq:MATN), a biopharmaceutical company developing vascular disrupting agents (VDAs) for the treatment of orphan oncology indications, today announced that the first patient has been enrolled into the Phase 2 portion of the PAZOFOS Study. The PAZOFOS Study is a Phase 1b/2 clinical trial in patients with recurrent ovarian cancer that will assess the efficacy and safety of the combination of Mateon’s investigational drug CA4P plus Novartis’ approved tyrosine kinase inhibitor pazopanib (Votrient®) compared to pazopanib alone. The primary outcome measure of the Phase 2 portion of the study is progression free survival measured by RECIST; secondary endpoints include safety, overall survival, objective response rate and relevant biomarkers. The study is designed to enroll 128 patients at ten sites in the United Kingdom.
“The advancement of the PAZOFOS Study into the Phase 2 portion is an important milestone for the continued development of CA4P,” stated William D. Schwieterman, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Mateon. “There are a number of parallels between the PAZOFOS Study and the completed GOG-0186I Study, each in recurrent ovarian cancer and evaluating CA4P in combination with an established anti-angiogenic agent. We believe combination vascular targeted therapy with a VDA and an anti-angiogenic has the potential to be a powerful approach to fight cancer, and we look forward to receiving data on this trial as it becomes available.”
PAZOFOS is sponsored by The Christie NHS Foundation Trust and coordinated by the Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Trials Coordination Unit (MAHSC-CTU) with additional support from The University of Manchester, the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and Mount Vernon Cancer Centre (portion of the East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust). CA4P and pazopanib are being provided by Mateon and Novartis, respectively.
About Mateon
Mateon Therapeutics, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company seeking to realize the full potential of vascular targeted therapy (VTT) in oncology. VTT includes vascular disrupting agents (VDAs) such as the investigational drugs that Mateon is developing, and anti-angiogenic agents (AAs), a number of which are FDA-approved and widely used in cancer treatment. These two approaches have distinct yet complementary mechanisms of action.
At Mateon, we believe that we can significantly improve cancer therapy by employing these two complementary approaches simultaneously. When utilized this way, VDAs obstruct existing blood vessels in the tumor leading to significant central tumor cell death while AAs prevent the formation of new tumor blood vessels.
Mateon is committed to leveraging our intellectual property and the product development expertise of our highly skilled management team to enable VTT to realize its true potential and to bring much-needed new therapies to cancer patients worldwide.
Safe Harbor Statement
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any or all of the forward-looking statements in this press release, which include the timing of advancement, outcomes, data and regulatory guidance relative to our clinical programs and achievement of our business and financing objectives may turn out to be wrong. Forward-looking statements can be affected by inaccurate assumptions Mateon might make or by known or unknown risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the inherent risks of drug development, manufacturing and regulatory review, and the availability of additional financing to pursue and continue development of our programs. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to materially differ from those in the forward-looking statements is contained in Mateon's reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Mateon's reports on Form 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K. However, Mateon undertakes no obligation to publicly update forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise. Please refer to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015.