Telik Inc announced the initiation of a randomized, controlled Phase 3 registration trial of TLK286 administered as a single agent in ovarian cancer patients whose disease has progressed following platinum-based chemotherapy and one second-line treatment.

The multinational trial, designated the ASSIST-1 (ASsessment of Survival In Solid Tumors-1) trial, is expected to enroll approximately 440 women. Patients will be randomized to a TLK286 treatment group, or to a control group receiving either Doxil or Hycamtin, drugs that are commonly used in the third-line ovarian cancer setting. The study is designed to evaluate whether TLK286 treatment reduces the risk of death, leading to an increase in survival, as compared to the control group treatments.

Results from a Phase 2 single agent study of TLK286 in ovarian cancer were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in May 2002 and at the EORTC/NCI/AACR meeting in November 2002. In this trial, objective tumor responses were observed and median patient survival was estimated at 17 months by Kaplan-Meier analysis.

"Ovarian cancer has the highest mortality rate of all gynecologic malignancies. There is an urgent need for new treatment alternatives since approximately 75% of new cases of ovarian cancer are diagnosed at an advanced stage," said Gail L. Brown, senior vice president and chief medical officer. "The objective responses and survival benefit observed with TLK286 in our Phase 2 ovarian cancer trial, the clinical activity reported in other cancers, including non-small cell lung, breast and colorectal, as well as the tolerability profile seen in more than 350 patients, provide a strong foundation for this Phase 3 trial."