CuraGen Announces Preliminary Data from Ongoing Phase II Study Showing Clinical Activity of CR011-vcMMAE in Patients with Metastati...( - Data presented at the 2008 iSBT...),Health

- Data presented at the 2008 iSBTc Annual Meeting -

- Conference call to be hosted today at 11:00 a.m. ET to discuss results -

BRANFORD, Conn., Nov. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CuraGen Corporation (Nasdaq: CRGN) announced today preliminary data from an ongoing Phase II trial of CR011-vcMMAE, an antibody-drug conjugate that targets GPNMB, for the treatment of patients with unresectable Stage III or Stage IV melanoma. Dr. Patrick Hwu, Co-Principal Investigator, and Professor and Chairman of the Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology, at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, presented the data during an oral session at the 2008 International Society for Biologic Therapy of Cancer (iSBTc) Annual Meeting.

Thirty-six patients were enrolled into this Phase II open-label, multi-center trial that is evaluating the efficacy and safety of CR011-vcMMAE 1.88 mg/kg administered intravenously once every three weeks. Eligible patients had progressive disease at trial entry and may have received one prior cytotoxic regimen and any number of prior immunotherapies. Of the patients enrolled, 94% had Stage IV disease of which two-thirds were classified as M1c, the poorest risk group.

At the time of the data cutoff for this analysis (19 Sept 2008), 31 patients had at least one efficacy assessment available, and 18 patients were continuing to receive ongoing treatment in the study. The median overall progression-free survival (PFS) to date was approximately 4.5 months. RECIST-defined partial responses were reported in 3 patients, 2 ongoing, and an unconfirmed partial response in 1 patient. Nineteen patients had stable disease, 14 ongoing, with tumor shrinkage observed in 12 of these patients.

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