CytRx Announces Partial Clinical Hold Affecting Aldoxorubicin Clinical Trials
All Currently Enrolled Patients Can Continue Receiving Aldoxorubicin Therapy or Comparator Drugs; One Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria to be Amended for New Trial Patients to Add Additional Safety Measure
Company Expects Trial Timelines to Remain Materially Unchanged
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- CytRx Corporation (CYTR), a biopharmaceutical research and development company specializing in oncology, today announced that the Company has received notice from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that its clinical trials for aldoxorubicin have been placed on partial clinical hold. All currently enrolled patients can continue receiving aldoxorubicin treatment, or comparator drugs, as per study protocols, but no new patients can be enrolled until the clinical hold is lifted.
The FDA has indicated that the partial clinical hold is due to the reported death of a patient with advanced-stage cancer who did not qualify to participate in any of the ongoing aldoxorubicin clinical trials, but had received aldoxorubicin under the Company's expanded access ("compassionate use") program. At the FDA's request, the Company will amend all aldoxorubicin study protocols to include an appropriate inclusion/exclusion criteria, an additional patient screening assessment and an evaluation of serum electrolytes prior to aldoxorubicin administration. CytRx is working diligently in collaboration with the FDA to seek the release of the clinical hold and resume enrollment in its clinical studies as expeditiously as possible.
CytRx currently believes that the partial hold issue will be expeditiously resolved and that enrollment rates and timelines for its ongoing trials will remain materially unchanged. The Company currently expects to announce preliminary results from the ongoing Phase 2 clinical trial of aldoxorubicin in Kaposi's Sarcoma in the second quarter of 2015 and preliminary results from the ongoing Phase 2 clinical trial of aldoxorubicin in glioblastoma multiforme in the first half of 2015. CytRx remains committed to completing enrollment of its ongoing pivotal global Phase 3 trial in second-line soft tissue sarcoma by the end of 2015.
About Aldoxorubicin
The widely used chemotherapeutic agent doxorubicin is delivered systemically and is highly toxic, which limits its dose to a level below its maximum therapeutic benefit. Doxorubicin also is associated with many side effects, especially the potential for damage to heart muscle at cumulative doses greater than 450 mg/m2. Aldoxorubicin combines doxorubicin with a novel single-molecule linker that binds directly and specifically to circulating albumin, the most plentiful protein in the bloodstream. Protein-hungry tumors concentrate albumin, thus increasing the delivery of the linker molecule with the attached doxorubicin to tumor sites. In the acidic environment of the tumor, but not the neutral environment of healthy tissues, doxorubicin is released. This allows for greater doses (3 ½ to 4 times) of doxorubicin to be administered while reducing its toxic side effects. In studies thus far there has been no evidence of clinically significant effects of aldoxorubicin on heart muscle, even at cumulative doses of drug well in excess of 2,000 mg/m2.
About CytRx Corporation
CytRx Corporation is a biopharmaceutical research and development company specializing in oncology. CytRx currently is focused on the clinical development of aldoxorubicin (formerly known as INNO-206), its improved version of the widely used chemotherapeutic agent doxorubicin. CytRx has initiated under a special protocol assessment a pivotal Phase 3 global trial with aldoxorubicin as a therapy for patients with soft tissue sarcomas whose tumors have progressed following treatment with chemotherapy, and recently announced that it has received approval from the FDA to continue dosing patients with aldoxorubicin until disease progression in that clinical trial. CytRx is currently evaluating aldoxorubicin in a global Phase 2b clinical trial in small cell lung cancer, a Phase 2 clinical trial in HIV-related Kaposi's sarcoma, a Phase 2 clinical trial in patients with late-stage glioblastoma (brain cancer), a Phase 1b trial in combination with ifosfamide in patients with soft tissue sarcoma, and a Phase 1b trial in combination with gemcitabine in subjects with metastatic solid tumors. CytRx has completed a global Phase 2b clinical trial with aldoxorubicin as a first-line therapy for soft tissue sarcomas, a Phase 1b/2 clinical trial primarily in the same indication, a Phase 1b clinical trial of aldoxorubicin in combination with doxorubicin in patients with advanced solid tumors and a Phase 1b pharmacokinetics clinical trial in patients with metastatic solid tumors. CytRx plans to expand its pipeline of oncology candidates at its laboratory facilities in Freiburg, Germany, based on novel linker technologies that can be utilized with multiple chemotherapeutic agents and may allow for greater concentration of drug at tumor sites. For more information about CytRx Corporation, visit www.cytrx.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the events or results described in the forward-looking statements, including risks relating to the outcome, timing and results of CytRx's clinical trials, risks related to the clinical hold placed by the FDA on aldoxorubicin clinical trials and their potential impact on the timing or resumption of those trials, the timing or FDA approval of projected commercial sales of aldoxorubicin, the risk that any future human testing of aldoxorubicin might not produce results similar to those seen in past human or animal testing, risks related to CytRx's ability to manufacture its drug candidates in a timely fashion, cost-effectively or in commercial quantities in compliance with stringent regulatory requirements, risks related to CytRx's need for additional capital or strategic partnerships to fund its ongoing working capital needs and development efforts, including the Phase 3 clinical development of aldoxorubicin, risks related to lawsuits that have been brought against the Company and its officers and/or directors for alleged violations of the securities laws, and the risks and uncertainties described in the most recent annual and quarterly reports filed by CytRx with the Securities and Exchange Commission and current reports filed since the date of CytRx's most recent annual report. All forward-looking statements are based upon information available to CytRx on the date the statements are first published. CytRx undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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Company Contact:
CytRx Corporation
David J. Haen
Vice President, Business Development and Investor Relations
310-826-5648, x304
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