DALLAS, Nov. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Reata Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Reata”) today announced interim results from its ongoing Phase 1 trial of RTA 744 in advanced primary brain tumors. These results were presented at the annual EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics held this week in Prague, Czech Republic.
“We are very encouraged by the early results of the Phase 1 trial of RTA 744,” commented Warren Huff, President and CEO of Reata. “This drug has had clear activity in multiple patients with the deadliest form of brain tumor -- glioblastoma multiforme. If these preliminary findings are confirmed in further studies, it will represent a major advance for patients with this devastating form of cancer.”
About RTA 744
RTA 744 is a novel anti-cancer drug that crosses the blood-brain barrier and shows significant potential for the treatment of primary and metastatic brain cancers. Other drugs in this class such as doxorubicin are among the most broadly used and effective classes of cancer therapies; however, they have not been used to treat brain cancers because they do not cross the blood- brain barrier.
RTA 744 is currently being tested in a Phase 1 clinical trial in patients with advanced primary brain cancers at three leading U.S. neuro-oncology centers -- the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and the UCLA School of Medicine. As reported at the EORTC-NCI-AACR meeting, RTA 744 has now been administered to 19 patients at dose levels up to 9.6 mg/m2/day. The drug has demonstrated appropriate pharmacokinetics and a safety profile consistent with other drugs in its class.
Most importantly, RTA 744 has produced positive signs of anti-cancer activity in multiple patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). In particular, one patient who has been receiving RTA 744 since January of this year has experienced complete tumor abrogation as measured by repeated MRI imaging (known as a “Complete Response”). Several other patients have also seen their tumors shrink or stabilize upon treatment with RTA 744. GBM is recognized as one of the most difficult types of tumors to treat, and on average patients survive just one year following diagnosis. Complete Responses are exceedingly rare in this patient population, and indicate that a drug is highly active against this particularly deadly and debilitating form of cancer.
Interim trial results are also scheduled for presentation at the Society of Neuro-Oncology meeting in Orlando on November 17, 2006. Advanced clinical trials of RTA 744 in primary brain tumors are planned to begin in 2007. Additionally, Reata has recently begun testing the drug in patients who have other types of tumors (for example, lung or breast cancer) that have spread to the central nervous system (CNS).
About Reata
Reata Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel treatments for cancer, inflammation, and neurodegenerative diseases. Founded in 2002, Reata is developing five distinct classes of cancer drugs licensed from leading academic institutions. The company has three drugs in Phase 1 clinical development: RTA 744 for primary brain cancers; RTA 401 for leukemias and solid tumors; and RTA 402 for solid tumors and lymphoid malignancies. Reata is matching its clinical and preclinical drug development programs with a best-of-class drug discovery platform to identify small molecule chaperones that can induce proper folding of p53, SOD, and Tau, misfolded proteins that are involved in cancer and neurodegenerative disease.
Reata Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
CONTACT: Melissa Krauth of Reata Pharmaceuticals, Inc., +1-972-865-2205,or melissa.krauth@reatapharma.com
Web site: http://www.reatadiscovery.com/
