Jennerex Treats First Patients in Phase 2 JX-594 Trial for Li...( SAN FRANCISCO and YONGIN South Ko...),Health

SAN FRANCISCO and YONGIN, South Korea, Jan. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Jennerex, Inc. (San Francisco, CA and Ottawa, Ontario), and its South Korean partner Green Cross Corp., today announced treatment of the first five patients in a Phase 2 primary liver cancer clinical trial using its targeted and armed poxvirus JX-594. No significant toxicities were reported, and enrollment of patients onto the trial is continuing.

The Phase 2 trial involves treatment of patients with advanced, primary liver cancer refractory to standard therapies. Patients are randomized to receive treatment at one of two dose levels. The 30-patient, multi-national trial is being conducted at clinical sites in the United States, South Korea and Canada.

"We're very excited to have this trial open and enrolling with our lead product, JX-594, which has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of the more than 10,000 patients each year who develop liver cancer in the U.S. alone. The numbers of patients with liver cancer in the EU, Japan and Asia are even higher. These desperate patients represent a huge unmet medical need since few effective therapies are available for them," said David H. Kirn, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Jennerex.

"We have already treated four patients with JX-594 in Korea and are anxious to see the efficacy of JX-594 in these late stage liver cancer patients," said B.G. Rhee, Ph.D., Executive Vice President of Green Cross.

The primary objective for this trial is to study the efficacy of treatment with JX-594 at two different dose levels in preventing tumor progression, as measured by modified RECIST criteria at eight weeks from initiation of treatment in patients with unresectable primary hepatocellular carcinoma. In addition, safety and tolerability, as well as tumor response and progression-free survival, of JX-594 administered at the two dose levels will be evaluated. Up to
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