NIMOTUZUMAB DEMONSTRATES EFFICACY IN RANDOMIZED HEAD & NECK CANCER STUDY WITHOUT THE TOXICITIES ASSOCIATED WITH OTHER ...( - Results from a randomized Phase I...)

    - Results from a randomized Phase IIb trial reported at 2009 ASCO Annual
    Meeting -

MISSISSAUGA, ON, June 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - YM BioSciences Inc. (NYSE Amex: YMI, TSX:YM, AIM:YMBA), a life sciences product development company that identifies and advances a diverse portfolio of promising cancer-related products at various stages of development, today reported that results from a randomized trial of nimotuzumab (aka BIOMAb/TheraCIM/h-R3) in patients with inoperable, locoregionally advanced Stage III/IVa head and neck cancer conducted by Reddy BK et al (Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Bangalore, India), were presented in a poster at the 2009 ASCO Annual Meeting. The trial demonstrates that the efficacy of nimotuzumab compares favorably to results reported for cetuximab, an EGFR-targeting antibody marketed as Erbitux(R), but that this efficacy was not accompanied by the severe toxicities reported in patients treated with cetuximab. The authors further conclude that this trial is the first randomized study in head and neck cancer to their knowledge that challenges the adopted tenet that the efficacy of EGFR inhibitors is linked to the toxicity of the class.

"These data are further evidence of the unsupported extrapolation to the class of the toxicity/benefit correlation in the marketed EGFR drugs. The trial data demonstrate that patients have the prospect of equivalent clinical benefit from nimotuzumab as from the rest of the class without the physical, emotional and financial costs that result from the numerous and severe toxicities of Erbitux(R) which are a consequence of the demonstrable inability of that drug to discriminate between healthy cells and tumor cells," said David Allan, Chairman and CEO of YM BioSciences. "We expect that, as the numerous randomized trials currently ongoing worldwide with nimotuzumab re
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