CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 9, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cerulean Pharma Inc. (Nasdaq: CERU ), a leader in Dynamic Tumor Targeting™, today announced that Mark E. Davis, Ph.D., Professor of Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology, presented information about Cerulean's lead candidate, CRLX101, in a presentation entitled "Nanoparticle Delivery Platform for Solid Tumors" at the 2014 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting held in Chicago on Monday, June 2 nd .
Dr. Davis gave a detailed talk on the potential benefits of nanopharmaceuticals. In his presentation, he described the scientific basis for the development of nanoparticle-based medicines for solid tumors. Dr. Davis also provided an update on the current status of clinical trials for nanoparticle-based medicines and the future of these medicines.
Featured prominently in Dr. Davis' talk were data from clinical and pre-clinical studies of CRLX101, a drug candidate he invented and which Cerulean is evaluating in multiple clinical trials. Among other data presented, Dr. Davis highlighted data demonstrating CRLX101's favorable pharmacokinetic profile in rats, dogs, and humans, and CRLX101's controlled release of its anti-tumor payload, camptothecin. He also presented florescent images of pre-treatment and post-treatment biopsy tissue from gastric cancer patients that show the presence of CRLX101 and its camptothecin payload in gastric tumors and not in neighboring healthy tissue. In addition, Dr. Davis presented pre-clinical and clinical data demonstrating CRLX101's durable inhibition of hypoxia-inducible factor-1a (HIF-1a), which is possible because of the slow release of the camptothecin payload from the nanoparticle.
"Mark Davis is a pioneer in nanopharmaceuticals and a leader in the field," said Oliver S. Fetzer, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Cerulean. "All of us at Cerulean are grateful to Dr. Davis for his ambassadorship for the potential of nanopharmaceuticals. We also are grateful to Dr. Davis' wife, who encouraged and inspired him to embark on a journey to improve outcomes for people living with cancer, as chronicled in a May 29 Nature article, ' Nanotechnology: Deliver on a promise .' The Cerulean team is working hard to move CRLX101 through the clinic, with the hope that it can achieve the high expectations of its inventor, Dr. Davis, for people living with cancer."
About CRLX101
CRLX101 is a dynamically tumor-targeted nanopharmaceutical designed to concentrate in tumors and slowly release its anti-cancer payload, camptothecin, inside tumor cells. CRLX101 inhibits topoisomerase 1 (topo 1), which is involved in cellular replication, and hypoxia-inducible factor-1a (HIF-1a), which research suggests is a master regulator of cancer cell survival mechanisms thought to promote drug and radiation resistance. CRLX101 has shown activity in late-stage disease in three different tumor types, both as monotherapy and in combination with Avastin®. CRLX101 is currently in Phase 2 clinical development and has been dosed in more than 200 patients.
About Cerulean's Dynamic Tumor Targeting Platform
Cerulean's Dynamic Tumor Targeting Platform creates nanopharmaceuticals that are designed to provide safer and more effective cancer treatments. We believe our nanopharmaceuticals concentrate their anti-cancer payloads inside tumors while sparing normal tissue because they are small enough to pass through the "leaky" vasculature present in tumors but are too large to pass through the wall of healthy blood vessels. Once inside tumors, our nanopharmaceuticals enter tumor cells where they slowly release anti-cancer payloads from within the tumor cells.
About Cerulean
The Cerulean team is committed to improving treatment for people living with cancer. We apply our Dynamic Tumor Targeting Platform to create a portfolio of nanopharmaceuticals designed to selectively attack tumor cells, reduce toxicity by sparing the body's normal cells and enable therapeutic combinations. Our lead product candidate, CRLX101, is in multiple clinical trials with approved cancer treatments with the aim of unlocking the power of combination therapy. www.ceruleanrx.com
Cautionary Note on Forward Looking Statements
Any statements in this press release about our future expectations, plans and prospects, including statements about the clinical development of our product candidates, and other statements containing the words "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "target," "would," and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: the uncertainties inherent in the initiation of clinical trials, availability and timing of data from ongoing and future clinical trials and the results of such trials, whether preliminary results from a clinical trial will be predictive of the final results of that trial or whether results of early clinical trials will be indicative of the results of later clinical trials, expectations for regulatory approvals, availability of funding sufficient for our foreseeable and unforeseeable operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements and other factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 27, 2014 and in other filings that we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, any forward-looking statements included in this press release represent our views only as of the date of this release and should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date. We specifically disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements included in this press release.
Avastin® is a trademark of Genentech Inc.
For IR: Heather Savelle MacDougall Biomedical Communications 781.235.3060 For PR: Laura Kempke MSLGROUP 781.684.0770
