Robert Gray, chief executive officer of The Foundation Fighting Blindness, commented that the Combretastatin trial marks the first time that FFB has provided financial support of an FDA-approved clinical trial for neovascular age-related macular degeneration. "We are extremely pleased that CA4P has met all regulatory and institutional board requirements to allow this initial study of Combretastatin in patients with the wet form of AMD," he said. "Through innovative collaborations with industry leaders like OXiGENE, The Foundation Fighting Blindness is working to rapidly advance promising new therapies to clinical trials. We hope to soon see a host of new clinical trials for macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa and other retinal degenerative diseases."
Each year more than 500,000 new cases of wet AMD are diagnosed worldwide. In the U.S., macular degeneration is the leading cause of severe and irreversible vision loss in people over age 60. While wet AMD represents just 10 percent of all AMD cases, it is responsible for 90 percent of AMD-related blindness, according to Johns Hopkins. Neovascular AMD is marked by the formation of aberrant blood vessels beneath the retina that leak blood and fluid into the retina and can trigger a sudden and severe loss of vision. An article in the June 2003 issue of Nature Reviews Drug Discovery estimates that, as the population ages, the number of wet AMD cases will grow fivefold.
CA4P, which is derived from the bark of the South African willow tree, is believed to work by damaging and destroying these new blood vessels. While the initial clinical focus of the compound has been solid tumor cancers, CA4P also has been evaluated in mouse and rabbit models as a treatment for ocular disease. The results of these s
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Contact: Scott Solomon
ssolomon@investorrelations.com
617-542-5300
Sharon Merrill Associates, Inc.
2-Jul-2003