( BASKING RIDGE N.J. April 19 2007 /P...)VioQuest Pharmaceuticals Announces Data Presentation for Its Akt,Inhibitor VQD-002, at American Association for Cancer Research,Annual Meeting,Health

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., April 19, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- VioQuest Pharmaceuticals, Inc. , a New Jersey-based biopharmaceutical company focused on acquiring, developing and commercializing targeted cancer compounds, announced data from its preclinical studies of VQD- 002, a direct inhibitor of Akt activation for the treatment of solid and hematologic tumors. Pre-clinical data was presented in a poster at the April 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), held in Los Angeles, CA.

"We are very excited to see these findings presented at AACR for our direct Akt inhibitor, VQD-002, in combination with another targeted agent Cdk9. Given that VQD-002 has two Phase I/IIa monotherapy programs in solid and hematogical tumors; this compliments the body of evidence that strongly suggests that VQD-002 may work in combination with multiple agents. We are eager to use findings like this to help us design the undertaking of additional clinical trials in combination therapy in the second half of 2007. VQD-002 has also shown compelling preclinical activity in combination with other targeted therapies such as Herceptin (trastuzumab), and other tyrosine kinases used in the treatment in tumor types such as glioblastoma, lymphomas, refractory leukemias, breast, colon and non-small cell lung cancer," said Daniel Greenleaf, VioQuest's president and CEO.

"The pre-clinical data for VQD-002 presented at AACR showed that the compound, in combination with another targeted pathway inhibitor, roscovatine, repressed the growth of specific prostate cancer cells in vitro. This combination, which may inhibit the pathways of apoptosis (programmed cell death) and eventually have a clinical application in the treatment of prostatic cancer, was one of more than 400 publications provided at AACR, showing the importance of the Akt pathway in human cancer," said Dr. Edward Bradley, VioQuest's Chief S
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