Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of cancer and viral infections, announced positive objective tumour response and median progression-free survival (PFS) data from a phase-II trial evaluating bavituximab in combination with paclitaxel and carboplatin chemotherapy in patients with advanced breast cancer. These data will be highlighted in a poster presentation on June 5, 2010 at the 2010 ASCO Annual Meeting.

"The overall tumour response of 74 per cent of patients in this study and median PFS of 6.9 months are promising results in this breast cancer patient population," commented Minish Jain, an investigator of this trial and oncologist at the Ruby Hall Clinic in Pune, India. "These results demonstrate the potential of bavituximab to be used in combination with paclitaxel and carboplatin in the treatment of solid tumours such as advanced breast cancer."

Bavituximab in combination with paclitaxel and carboplatin is being evaluated in two phase-II trials, including front-line advanced breast cancer and front-line non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Bavituximab is a first-in-class phosphatidylserine (PS)-targeting monoclonal antibody that represents a new approach to treating cancer. PS is a highly immunosuppressive molecule usually located inside the membrane of healthy cells, but "flips" and becomes exposed on the outside of cells that line tumour blood vessels, creating a specific target for anti-cancer treatments. PS-targeting antibodies target and bind to PS and block this immunosuppressive signal, thereby enabling the immune system to recognize and fight the tumour.

"The data to date from our phase-II cancer trials using the combination of bavituximab with paclitaxel and carboplatin have been encouraging and we look forward to advancing this combination into future phase-II clinical trials," said Marvin R Garovoy, head of clinical science of Peregrine. "To further the evaluation of this and other combinations with bavituximab for breast cancer, we are seeking investigators interested in our investigator-sponsored trials program, which is designed to support researchers who have an interest in exploring different therapeutic applications and indications."

Peregrine Pharma is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a portfolio of innovative monoclonal antibodies in development for the treatment of cancer and serious viral infections.