BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Announces Presentation of Forodesine Data at the 45th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinica...( BIRMINGHAM Ala. May 14 /- BioCryst ...),Health

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., May 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: BCRX) today announced long-term data from a Phase 2 study of forodesine, the Company's lead oncology compound, in patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL). The data will be presented at the 45th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) being held in Orlando, Florida from May 29-June 2. Forodesine is a transition-state analog inhibitor of purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP), a purine salvage pathway enzyme that is essential for the proliferation of T-cells and B-cells.

The poster entitled "Long-Term Treatment of CTCL with the Oral PNP Inhibitor, Forodesine" (Abstract #8552, M. Duvic et. al.) will be in a general ASCO poster session on Saturday, May 30 from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Level 2, West Hall C, Board Q18 of the Orlando Convention Center.

The open-label, dose escalation study evaluated 40-320 mg/m2 of forodesine given once-daily for four weeks to determine the maximum tolerated dose and optimal biologic dose (OBD). The OBD was determined to be 80 mg/m2 of forodesine. Additional patients were enrolled in this trial to further assess the long-term safety and clinical efficacy at the 80 mg/m2 dose level. The primary efficacy endpoint was objective response rate, defined as greater than or equal to a 50 percent improvement by a severity-weighted assessment tool.

The overall response rate in the intent to treat population was 17 of 64 patients (27 percent), including 14 of 36 patients (39 percent) treated with the 80 mg/m2 dose. As of October 2008, nine of 64 patients (14 percent) received forodesine treatment for greater than 12 months. Of these nine patients, six discontinued treatment. Four patients discontinued treatment because of progressive disease, one withdr
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