Micromet Adds Sir Walter Bodmer and Bernard Fox to Its Advisory Panel for BiTE Antibody Therapeutics
19 March 2009 - 10:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
Appointments Strengthen Expertise in Immunotherapy of Cancer
BETHESDA, Md., March 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Micromet, Inc.
(NASDAQ: MITI), a biopharmaceutical company developing novel,
proprietary antibodies for the treatment of cancer, inflammation
and autoimmune diseases, today announced the the appointment of Sir
Walter Bodmer and Bernard Fox to its BiTE antibody advisory panel.
Other members of the company's advisory panel include professors
Richard Flavell (Yale University), Michael Keating (MD Anderson),
Ronald Levy (Stanford University), Jeffrey Ravetch (Rockefeller
University), and Anthony Tolcher (START). Sir Walter Bodmer holds a
Ph.D. degree from Cambridge University, UK, and, among several
other appointments, was Chair of Genetics of Oxford University,
Director-General of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF),
President of the International Human Genome Organization (HUGO),
President of the British Association for the Advancement of
Science, and Chancellor of the University of Salford. He retired as
Principal of Hertford College, Oxford, where he continues
scientific work at the Cancer and Immunogenetics Laboratory of the
Weatherall Institute. Sir Walter Bodmer did seminal work in the
area of bacterial genetics, molecular and biochemical analysis of
the HLA system and its association with disease, differentiation
and malignant transformation of colonic epithelial cells, and has
profound expertise in immunotherapeutic targets CEA and EpCAM,
which are being targeted by Micromet's product candidates
adecatumumab, MT110 and MT111/MEDI-565. Bernard Fox is President of
the International Society for the Biological Therapy of Cancer, and
Chief of the Laboratory of Molecular and Tumor Immunology at the
Robert W. Franz Cancer Research Center, in the Earle A. Chiles
Research Institute of Providence Cancer Center, Portland, Oregon.
He holds a Ph.D. degree from Wayne State University, Detroit, and
did postdoctoral training at the Surgery Branch, Division of Cancer
Treatment, of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), NIH. He has
appointments as Associate Professor of Molecular Microbiology and
Immunology at the School of Medicine of the Oregon Health and
Science University (OHSU), and Leader, Tumor Immunology Focus
Panel, OHSU Knight Cancer Institute. Prof. Fox participated as
principal and co-investigator in numerous clinical trials exploring
novel immunotherapeutic approaches. He has particular expertise in
the role T cells play in cancer therapy. "We are very pleased with
the addition of two internationally recognized scientists with
long-standing expertise in cancer immunotherapy to our advisory
panel," commented Christian Itin, president and CEO of Micromet.
"Sir Walter Bodmer and Bernard Fox have unique experience in key
areas relevant for the development of new BiTE antibodies for the
treatment of cancer." About Micromet Micromet, Inc.
(http://www.micromet-inc.com/) is a biopharmaceutical company with
offices in Bethesda, MD and Munich, Germany. The Company is focused
on developing novel, proprietary antibodies for the treatment of
cancer, inflammation and autoimmune diseases. The Company's novel
antibody technology is based on its proprietary BiTE(R) antibody
platform, representing a new class of antibodies that specifically
activate T cells from the patient's own immune system to eliminate
cancer cells or other disease related cells. Four of the Company's
antibodies are currently in clinical trials, with the remainder of
its product pipeline in preclinical development. The Company's lead
program is a BiTE antibody known as blinatumomab, or MT103. It is
in a phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of patients with
acute lymphoblastic leukemia and a phase 1 clinical trial for the
treatment of patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Micromet's
second BiTE antibody in clinical development is MT110, which
targets the epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM). The Company
owns all rights to MT110, which is currently in a phase 1 clinical
trial for the treatment of patients with solid tumors. The
Company's third clinical stage antibody is adecatumumab, also known
as MT201, a traditional human monoclonal antibody that targets
EpCAM-expressing solid tumors. Micromet is developing adecatumumab
in collaboration with Merck Serono in a phase 1b clinical trial
evaluating adecatumumab in combination with docetaxel for the
treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer. Micromet
licensed a fourth clinical stage antibody, MT293, to TRACON
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. MT293 is being developed in a phase 1
clinical trial for the treatment of patients with cancer. The
Company's preclinical programs include MT203 being developed in
collaboration with Nycomed. MT203 is a traditional human antibody
neutralizing the activity of granulocyte/macrophage colony
stimulating factor (GM-CSF), which has potential applications in
the treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, such as
rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, or multiple sclerosis. Micromet
has granted an exclusive option to Bayer Schering Pharma AG to
license a BiTE antibody against an undisclosed solid tumor target.
Additional BiTE antibodies, targeting CEA, CD33, Her2, EGFR and
MCSP, respectively, are in different stages of preclinical
development. Forward-Looking Statements This release contains
certain forward-looking statements that involve risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially
different from historical results or from any future results
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These
forward-looking statements include statements regarding the
efficacy, safety and intended utilization of our product
candidates, the development of our BiTE antibody technology, the
return of development and commercialization rights to blinatumomab,
the future development of blinatumomab and a new BiTE antibody
binding to CD19, the conduct, timing and results of future clinical
trials, expectations of the future expansion of our product
pipeline and collaborations, our plans regarding future
presentations of clinical data, our expectations of timing for the
publication of results from our research and development programs,
our ability to draw down on the Committed Equity Financing Facility
with Kingsbridge, and our plans regarding collaborations and other
partnering activities. You are urged to consider statements that
include the words "ongoing," "may," "will," "believes,"
"potential," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "intends," or the
negative of those words or other similar words to be uncertain and
forward-looking. Factors that may cause actual results to differ
materially from any future results expressed or implied by any
forward-looking statements include the risk that product candidates
that appeared promising in early research, preclinical studies or
clinical trials do not demonstrate safety and/or efficacy in
subsequent clinical trials, the risk that encouraging results from
early research, preclinical studies or clinical trials may not be
confirmed upon further analysis of the detailed results of such
research, preclinical study or clinical trial, the risk that
additional information relating to the safety, efficacy or
tolerability of our product candidates may be discovered upon
further analysis of preclinical or clinical trial data, the risk
that we or our collaborators will not obtain approval to market our
product candidates, the risks associated with reliance on outside
financing to meet capital requirements, and the risks associated
with reliance on collaborators, including MedImmune, Merck Serono,
TRACON and Nycomed, for the funding or conduct of further
development and commercialization activities relating to our
product candidates. These factors and others are more fully
discussed in Micromet's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal
year ended December 31, 2008, filed with the SEC on March 16, 2009,
as well as other filings by the company with the SEC. DATASOURCE:
Micromet, Inc. CONTACT: US Media: Andrea tenBroek or Chris Stamm,
+1-781-684-0770, ; or for US Investors: Susan Noonan,
+1-212-966-3650, ; or for European Media: Ludger Wess,
+49-40-8816-5964, ; or for European Investors: Ines-Regina Buth,
+49-30-2363-2768, Web Site: http://www.micromet-inc.com/
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