Oncology focused biopharmaceutical company Kiadis Pharma announces that Andrea Velardi, M.D., Professor of Clinical Immunology at the University of Perugia, Italy and Kiadis Pharma are continuing their collaboration on ATIR, a product in clinical development for enabling the use of a mismatched donor in a bone marrow transplantation by preventing acute Graft versus Host Disease (GvHD) for end stage leukaemia patients.

Under the agreement Professor Velardi will continue the development on the selective depletion of allo-reactive T cells from mismatched donors using Kiadis Pharma's ATIR. Kiadis Pharma is preparing for a multi-centre pivotal study on ATIR to start early 2009 and Professor Velardi will participate in this upcoming study.

We are very pleased with our continued collaboration with the University of Perugia and Professor Velardi, who is a leader in the field of mismatched bone marrow transplantations," says Dr. Manja Bouman, CEO of Kiadis Pharma. "This collaboration is an important milestone in the development of ATIR as a revolutionary approach to provide safe and potentially life-saving mismatched bone marrow transplantations as a treatment option for end-stage leukaemia patients."

Professor Andrea Velardi says: "So far, we have treated 25 blood cancer patients who have received bone marrow from mismatched donors, including donor immune cells that are selectively depleted of cells causing acute Graft versus Host Disease using the ATIR process. The results so far are promising and I am therefore very pleased to continue to work with Kiadis Pharma in this field."

Kiadis Pharma is an oncology focused pharmaceutical development company with three products in different phases of clinical development. The company develops products that offer novel treatment options for terminally ill cancer patients and address significant unmet medical needs.