Genta Incorporated and Aventis, part of the sanofi-aventis Group, have decided to terminate their development and commercialization collaboration for Genasense (oblimersen sodium injection). On November 8 2004, Aventis had provided Genta notice of termination of the Genasense agreements.

The termination agreement provides no future financial obligations by either party, and the line of credit established by Aventis to Genta will be retired. Aventis will also return its current inventory of Genasense drug supply to Genta. In addition, Genta will assume responsibility for the randomized clinical trial of Genasense in combination with docetaxel (Taxotere; sanofi-aventis) in patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer, which is currently ongoing in Europe, release from Genta said.

Genasense inhibits production of Bcl-2, a protein made by cancer cells that is thought to block chemotherapy-induced apoptosis (programmed cell death). By reducing the amount of Bcl-2 in cancer cells, Genasense may enhance the effectiveness of current anticancer treatments. Genta is pursuing a broad clinical development programme with Genasense evaluating its potential to treat various forms of cancer.