Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (CTI) announced that it has submitted its response to the Day 120 List of Outstanding Issues to the European Medicines Agency's (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) in regards to CTI's Marketing Authorization Application for pixantrone (MAA) to treat relapsed or refractory aggressive Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL). With this submission, CTI expects to receive a CHMP opinion regarding approvability of pixantrone during the first quarter of 2012.

“We have now submitted answers to the CHMP list of questions moving pixantrone a step closer to potential approval,” said James A Bianco, CEO of CTI. “Following an encouraging meeting with the EMA earlier this year and based on recommendations from the rapporteurs, we requested and received an extension to answer all the EMA's questions in the Day 120 letter. We believe we have been able to provide quality responses to each of the questions posed and we expect this positions us to receive an opinion by the early next year. If the opinion is positive, we expect that the commercial launch of pixantrone in Europe could occur as early as the first half of 2012.”

In the United States, CTI expects to resubmit its New Drug Application for pixantrone (NDA) to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) during the fourth quarter of 2011 and the FDA has indicated the NDA would receive a six month review resulting in a decision on approval of the NDA by the FDA in the United States as early as April 2012.

Pixantrone is a novel aza-anthracenedione that has distinct structural and physio-chemical properties that make its anti-tumour activity unique in this class of agents. Similar to anthracyclines, pixantrone inhibits Topo-isomerase II but unlike anthracyclines -- rather than intercalation with DNA -- pixantrone alkylates DNA -- forming stable DNA adducts with particular specificity for CpG-rich, hyper-methylated sites. These structural differences resulted in significantly enhanced anti-lymphoma activity compared to doxorubicin in preclinical models. In addition, the structural motifs on anthracycline-like agents that are responsible for the generation of oxygen free radicals and the formation of toxic drug-metal complexes have also been modified in pixantrone in an effort to prevent the binding of iron and perpetuation of superoxide production -- both of which are the putative mechanism for anthracycline induced acute cardiotoxicity. These novel pharmacologic differences may allow re-introduction of anthracycline-like potency in the treatment of relapsed/refractory diffuse large lymphoma without unacceptable rates of cardiotoxicity.

CTI is a biopharmaceutical company committed to developing an integrated portfolio of oncology products aimed at making cancer more treatable.