Vion Pharmaceuticals Announces Presentation of Interim Data from Pivotal Phase II Trial of Cloretazine(R) (VNP40101M) in Acute Myelogenous Leukemia at the ASCO(R) Annu...( NEW HAVEN Conn. June 2 /- VIONPHA...),Health

NEW HAVEN, Conn., June 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- VION PHARMACEUTICALS, INC. (Nasdaq: VION) today announced that interim data from the pivotal Phase II trial of its lead anticancer agent Cloretazine(R) (VNP40101M) in elderly patients with de novo poor-risk acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) had been presented at the 44th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO(R)) in Chicago, Illinois.

At ASCO(R), data were presented in 85 evaluable patients. The median age of these patients was 73 years (range of 60-87 years). Ninety-five percent of patients had two or more risk factors associated with a poor prognosis in elderly AML and 74% had three or more risk factors. The most common risk factors were age greater than or equal to 70 (78% of patients), and cardiac and pulmonary dysfunction (73% and 76% of patients respectively). In addition, 47% of patients had unfavorable cytogenetics.

The overall complete response rate was 35% (22 CR and 8 CRp). 90% of responses occurred after first induction treatment. While follow-up is still ongoing, the median (range) of overall survival for responders was 6.3 months (1.7-16.4 months) and for all patients was 3.2 months (0.1-16.4 months).

The induction death rate within 30 days of first induction treatment was 14%. The majority of first induction deaths were either due to progression of disease or infection. Myelosuppression was the primary toxicity, with pneumonia, infection and sepsis and non-infectious pulmonary disorders (hypoxia and dyspnea) being the most common severe adverse events (greater than or equal to grade 3).

Dr. Gary Schiller, Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a lead investigator on the study, said "The
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