Poniard Pharmaceuticals Announces Positive First-line Phase 1 Safety and Efficacy Data With Picoplatin in Metastatic Prostate Cance...( - Poster Presented at ASCO Genitou...),Health

- Poster Presented at ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Satellite Symposium -

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Feb. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Poniard Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: PARD), a biopharmaceutical company focused on oncology, today announced that it is presenting safety and efficacy data in prostate cancer patients from its Phase 1 study of picoplatin, the Company's lead product candidate, at the 2008 Genitourinary (GU) Cancers Symposium, a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) that is being held in San Francisco.

The poster presentation includes safety and efficacy data from a dose-escalating Phase 1 study of picoplatin in combination with full-dose docetaxel (75 mg/m squared) with prednisone as a first-line treatment for metastatic hormone refractory prostate cancer (mHRPC). The Phase 1 study sought to establish the maximum tolerated dose of picoplatin and provide information on the safety and efficacy of picoplatin in combination with docetaxel and prednisone, the standard of care for the first-line treatment of mHRPC.

"The data we have generated with picoplatin in prostate cancer indicate a PSA (prostate specific antigen) response of 65 percent which suggests an improvement compared to docetaxel therapy alone," said Jerry McMahon, Ph.D., chairman and CEO of Poniard Pharmaceuticals. "In addition, the tolerability of picoplatin with full-dose docetaxel supports our ongoing Phase 2 study that we believe will confirm and extend these initial findings. The combination of platinums and taxanes, such as docetaxel, is used to treat many other solid tumors, such as non-small cell and ovarian cancers. We believe that our data support additional evaluation of picoplatin and docetaxel combinations in t
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