• 9/14/2005
  • St. Louis, MO
  • press release
  • PR Newswire (www.prnewswire.com)

Introgen Therapeutics Inc. and its collaborators presented new data from its INGN 007 program in oncolytic viruses for the treatment of cancer this past weekend at the American Society of Gene Therapy 8th Annual Meeting. Three abstracts were presented by Introgen collaborator William S.M. Wold, Ph.D., chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine and founder and chief executive officer of VirRx, describing the activity of Introgen’s portfolio of oncolytic viruses, as well as preclinical pharmacology and safety data with INGN 007 its leading oncolytic viral product candidate. Results show that INGN 007 has a favorable safety profile and significantly inhibits primary tumor growth as well as metastatic disease. The oncolytic virus data were presented in abstracts #1021, #1022 and #1023.

“We have been impressed with the efficacy of INGN 007 that significantly inhibited tumor growth and metastasis in these studies. Importantly, the safety of INGN 007 was similar to that of other adenoviral products that are derived from a naturally occurring and benign virus to which many people have been exposed,” said Louis A. Zumstein, Ph.D., Introgen’s associate vice president of Research. Dr. Zumstein continued, “The preclinical models also tolerated a very high dose of INGN 007, suggesting a good margin of safety with this product. Taken together, these data provide a strong rationale for advancing INGN 007 and our other oncolytic viruses into the clinic and support their potential utility as a novel approach to treating cancer.”

About Oncolytic Viruses:
Introgen has licensed rights to a portfolio of oncolytic viruses and other related technologies from VirRx, Inc. This portfolio includes a series of replication competent adenovirus vectors that over-express an adenoviral gene (ADP gene), a gene that causes rapid destruction of cancer cells through the replication and release of new viral particles. This release kills the cell, and also yields a pool of new viral particles capable of infecting additional cells within the tumor. The ability to overexpress the ADP gene sets this technology apart from other existing oncolytic viruses and has been shown to provide a powerful anti-tumor effect.

About Introgen:
Introgen is a leading developer of biopharmaceutical products designed to induce therapeutic protein expression using non-integrating gene agents for the treatment of cancer and other diseases. Introgen maintains integrated research, development, manufacturing, clinical and regulatory departments and operates a commercial-scale, CGMP manufacturing facility.