Micromet Presents Preclinical Data Showing Activity of Erbitux and Vectibix Based BiTE Antibodies against KRAS- and BRAF-mutated Human Colorectal Ca...( Study Presented at 2009 AACR Meeting ...),Health

Study Presented at 2009 AACR Meeting Highlights Potential Therapeutic Approach to Treat Patients Unresponsive to Erbitux and Vectibix

DENVER, April 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Micromet, Inc. (Nasdaq: MITI), a biopharmaceutical company developing novel, proprietary antibodies for the treatment of cancer, inflammation and autoimmune diseases, yesterday presented non-clinical data at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). These non-clinical data indicate that after Micromet developed BiTE antibodies from the EGFR-specific monoclonal antibodies Erbitux(R) (cetuximab) and Vectibix(R) (panitumumab) they were highly active against KRAS-and BRAF-mutated human colorectal cancer cell lines(1). Recent clinical studies have shown that the chimeric monoclonal antibodies cetuximab(2,3) and panitumumab(3,4) are not active in colorectal cancer patients with tumor cells harboring mutations in KRAS and BRAF oncogenes. These two populations make up more than 40% of colorectal cancer patients.

Micromet's researchers converted cetuximab and panitumumab into novel bispecific antibodies based on Micromet's proprietary BiTE technology. Both of Micromet's EGFR BiTE antibodies were able to direct T cells against cetuximab/panitumumab-resistant human colorectal cancer cells harboring KRAS and BRAF mutations, resulting in the destruction of these cancer cells. In mice, daily EGFR BiTE antibody doses as low as 0.1 microgram/kilogram were sufficient to prevent tumor growth from mutated human colorectal cancer cells. Studies in a relevant non-human primate species suggest that active serum levels of the cetuximab-based BiTE antibody are tolerated.

"The data show that our BiTE technology can overcome significant limitations of conventional monoclonal antibodies," commented Patrick Baeuerle, Chief Scientific
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