LOUISVILLE, CO--(Marketwire - November 3, 2010) - GlobeImmune Inc. today announced that the company has been awarded three grants totaling $733,438 under the federal Therapeutic Discovery Project Program. GlobeImmune will receive grant money for each of the following clinical-stage therapeutic vaccine development programs:
- GI-5005, GlobeImmune's most advanced product candidate, is a therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Phase 2b clinical trials have demonstrated that when added to standard of care (SOC, pegylated interferon-alfa2a and ribavirin), GI-5005 improves sustained virologic response (SVR, or "cure") by 10% in treatment-naïve patients and 12% in prior non-responders compared to patients receiving SOC alone. Additionally, GI-5005 has been shown to increase SVR by 60% in patients with the IL28B T/T genotype, a patient group with the highest rate of treatment failure on SOC.
- GI-4000 targets cancers caused by mutations in the Ras oncogene product. The GI-4000 therapeutic vaccine is currently in Phase 2b clinical trials in patients with pancreas cancer, non-small cell lung cancer and colorectal cancer.
- GI-6207 is for the treatment of cancers that over-express carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). This therapeutic vaccine is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1 clinical trial in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.
About GlobeImmune
GlobeImmune Inc. is a private company developing therapeutic vaccines called Tarmogens for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases. Tarmogens generate activated killer T cells that are designed to locate and eliminate cancer cells and/or virally-infected cells. The Company's lead product candidate, GI-5005, is a Tarmogen being developed for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C infection (HCV). GI-5005 is designed to complement both the current standard of care and emerging novel therapies for HCV. The Company's lead oncology program, GI-4000, targets cancers caused by mutated versions of the Ras oncoprotein. GI-4000 is being investigated in clinical trials for the treatment of pancreas cancer as well as other cancers that contain mutated Ras, including non-small cell lung cancer and colorectal cancer. In May 2009, the Company announced a global partnership with Celgene focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of multiple product candidates for the treatment of cancer.
For additional information, please visit the company's website at www.globeimmune.com.
This news release and the anticipated presentation contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements relating to initiation and progress of the Company's clinical trial programs and the results from the clinical trials. Actual results could differ materially from those projected and the Company cautions readers not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in the release and anticipated presentation.