Poniard Announces Publication of Results of Picoplatin Phase 2 Study in Journal of Clinica...( - Findings Demonstrate Survi...),Health

- Findings Demonstrate Survival Benefit with Picoplatin as Second-Line Therapy for Small Cell Lung Cancer -

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., April 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Poniard Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: PARD), a biopharmaceutical company focused on oncology, today announced that results of its Phase 2 clinical trial of picoplatin in patients with recurrent small cell lung cancer (SCLC) were published in the April 20, 2009, print issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology(1). Picoplatin demonstrated a survival benefit in this open-label, multi-center Phase 2 trial of SCLC patients who failed prior platinum-containing first-line chemotherapy or who progressed within six months of first-line therapy. The median overall survival was 27 weeks and the median one-year survival rate was 17.6 percent in this patient population of mostly platinum-refractory and -resistant patients.

Poniard is currently evaluating the efficacy and safety of picoplatin in the pivotal Phase 3 SPEAR (Study of Picoplatin Efficacy After Relapse) SCLC trial, which is being conducted under a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Company reached its enrollment target in this international, multi-center, randomized, controlled trial in March 2009.

SCLC is the most aggressive lung cancer and tends to be widely disseminated by the time of diagnosis. The prognosis for patients with SCLC that has progressed despite chemotherapy is exceedingly poor regardless of stage. Effective second-line treatment for SCLC is a major unmet need. There is no standard chemotherapy for second-line platinum-refractory or -resistant SCLC.

"New treatments are desperately needed for patients with platinum-resistant and -refractory small cell lung cancer due
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