Delcath Systems, Inc announced that the Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, Colorado, has joined Delcath's phase-III clinical trial for the treatment of metastatic melanoma in the liver. Swedish Medical Center is the ninth centre to join this multi-centre trial testing the company's Percutaneous Hepatic Perfusion (PHP) System for the isolated, high-dose delivery of the anti-cancer agent melphalan.

Delcath and Swedish Medical Center have entered into a clinical research agreement to conduct the phase-III National Cancer Institute (NCI) led study. Dr Charles Nutting, an interventional radiologist specializing in minimally invasive cancer treatment, will serve as the principal investigator. Commenting on joining this trial, Dr Nutting stated, "PHP offers a unique and highly promising treatment modality for patients suffering from melanoma that has metastasized to the liver. Regional liver-directed therapy has shown tremendous success for patients suffering from primary and metastatic disease, and PHP offers an approach to treatment of the entire liver which has previously been lacking. I look forward to being able to provide this treatment to my patients, and to working with the technology as the company explores the possibility for expanded use of its System."


On Swedish Medical Center joining this trial, Richard L Taney, president and CEO of Delcath, stated, "Dr Nutting is a welcome addition to this trial and we are excited to be working with him. Dr Nutting has been a leader in the development and use of regional cancer treatment modalities for many years and brings great experience and valuable leadership to this trial. Located immediately Southwest of Denver, Colorado, Swedish Medical Center is ideally situated to allow Delcath's PHP treatment to reach an important geographic region and will further advance our goal of completing enrolment of this trial in 2009."

Swedish Medical Center is a hospital with 368 licensed beds located in the South Denver metro area in Englewood, Colorado, where it has been a member of the community for more than 100 years. The mission of Swedish Medical Center is to provide compassionate, high-quality patient care that meets the caring and cost effective expectations of our patients, physicians, employees and volunteers, and to preserve and strengthen the Swedish tradition of community service.

Delcath Systems, Inc is a medical technology company specializing in cancer treatment. The company has developed a proprietary, patented system which will improve the efficacy of cancer treatment while reducing the considerable, systemic side-effects of chemotherapy.