SAN DIEGO, April 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Metabasis Therapeutics , will present today at the 97th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research held in Washington, D.C. from April 1-5, 2006. Dr. Mark Erion, executive vice president of research and development and chief scientific officer for Metabasis, will give a presentation entitled, “Liver Targeting of Antiviral and Anticancer Drugs Using Organ-Specific Prodrug Cleavage”. Dr. Erion will discuss Metabasis’ proprietary liver-selective drug targeting technology known as HepDirect(R).
Metabasis has two product candidates in clinical development that use the HepDirect technology, pradefovir and MB07133 for the treatment of hepatitis B and primary liver cancer, respectively. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International , Metabasis’ partner and licensee for pradefovir, recently completed a successful Phase IIb clinical trial of pradefovir and expects to initiate a Phase III study in the second half of 2006. Metabasis is currently conducting a Phase I/II clinical trial of MB07133 in patients with primary liver cancer.
The HepDirect prodrug technology is designed to target certain drugs to the liver, resulting in increased levels of the active form of the drug in the liver and decreased levels in non-liver tissues. This is accomplished by chemically modifying a drug to render it inactive until the modification added is removed by a liver-specific enzyme. The modified, inactive form is known as a HepDirect prodrug. The technology may be used to improve the efficacy and/or safety of certain marketed drugs or applied to certain drug candidates, resulting in new, proprietary drugs that may then be marketed either by Metabasis or by a partner. In addition to pradefovir and MB07133, the Company is using the HepDirect technology in some of its advanced research programs. Furthermore, Metabasis has collaborated with Merck to discover new treatments for hepatitis C by applying the HepDirect technology to certain compounds supplied by Merck.
About Metabasis (www.mbasis.com):
Metabasis Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel drugs to address some of the world’s most widespread and costly chronic diseases involving pathways in the liver. The Company has established a pipeline that includes clinical stage and preclinical product candidates targeting major diseases with significant unmet medical needs. Targeted diseases include metabolic diseases such as diabetes, hyperlipidemia and obesity as well as liver diseases such as hepatitis and primary liver cancer. Metabasis has developed several proprietary technologies for use in discovering and optimizing drugs, including the NuMimetic(TM) and HepDirect(R) technologies. Metabasis is continuing to identify and develop new product candidates using its proprietary technologies and expertise.
Forward-Looking Statements:
Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical in nature constitute “forward-looking statements.” Such statements include, but are not limited to, references to the potential further development of pradefovir and MB07133, as well as the HepDirect technology and its applications and capabilities. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause Metabasis’ actual results to be materially different from historical results or from any results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties related to Metabasis’ dependence on Valeant, Merck and its other licensees and collaborators for the clinical development and registration of its product candidates, among other things; the progress and timing of clinical trials for Metabasis’ product candidates; the fact that positive results from clinical trials does not necessarily mean later clinical trials will succeed; serious adverse side effects of, or serious adverse events related to, Metabasis’ product candidates or proprietary technologies; difficulties or delays in development, testing, obtaining regulatory approval, producing and marketing Metabasis’ product candidates; the potential and progress of preclinical compounds and programs; and other factors discussed in the “Risk Factors” section of Metabasis’ Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Metabasis is providing this information as of this date of this release and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Metabasis Therapeutics
CONTACT: Constance Bienfait, Vice President, Investor Relations &Corporate Communications of Metabasis Therapeutics, Inc., +1-858-622-5575
Web site: http://www.mbasis.com/
