Peregrine's Hepatitis C Virus Phase Ib Study Results Promising

Hepatitis C Virus

Peregrine Pharmaceuticals announced final data from its Phase Ib study of bavituximab in patients with chronic hepatitis C viral infection.

The data has been accepted for an oral presentation at The Liver Meeting 2007, the premier event in the science and practice of hepatology hosted by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).

"We are extremely pleased that clinical data from our bavituximab HCV program has been selected for an oral presentation at the prestigious AASLD annual meeting for a second straight year," said Steven W. King, president and CEO of Peregrine. "We believe that bavituximab represents a unique approach with significant clinical promise for treating chronic hepatitis C virus infections. The oral presentation offers us a unique opportunity to share final data from the Phase Ib HCV clinical trial completed earlier this year with a large audience of liver experts from around the globe."

Over 6,000 hepatologists and hepatology health professionals will meet at the 58th Annual Meeting & Postgraduate Course of AASLD--The Liver Meeting at the John B. Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Massachusetts from November 2 - 6, 2007. The bavituximab HCV data presentation is scheduled for November 4, 2007 at 5:45 PM ET in the main auditorium.

Bavituximab is the first investigational agent in a new class of anti-phosphotidylserine (anti-PS) monoclonal antibodies that targets and binds to cellular components that are normally not present on the outside of cells, but that become exposed on certain virally infected cells and on the surface of enveloped viruses. It is thought that anti-PS agents help stimulate the body's immune defenses to destroy both the virus particles and the infected cells. In preclinical studies, anti-PS antibodies have demonstrated their ability to bind to a wide range of enveloped viruses, as well as showing promising activity in animal models of serious viral diseases.