Pre-Clinical Data on CEA-specific BiTE Antibody Published in Journal of Immunotherapy Demonstrate Potent Control of Tumor Growth
April 08 2009 - 6:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
BETHESDA, Md., April 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Micromet, Inc.
(NASDAQ: MITI), a biopharmaceutical company developing novel,
proprietary antibodies for the treatment of cancer, inflammation
and autoimmune diseases, today announced the publication of data in
the peer-reviewed Journal of Immunotherapy (1) demonstrating the
potent anti-tumor activity of a BiTE antibody binding to
carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and to CD3 on T cells. Micromet and
MedImmune are jointly developing MT111/MEDI-565, a CEA-specific
BiTE, which is in pre-clinical development. CEA, also called CD66e
or CEACAM5, was selected as target antigen for development of a new
BiTE antibody program because CEA is widely expressed on the
surface of human carcinoma cells. In its soluble form, CEA serves
as a marker in patients' blood for progression of colorectal and
other forms of solid cancers. Conventional CEA-targeting antibodies
can be blocked by soluble CEA and prevented from binding to CEA on
the surface of cancer cells, thereby limiting antibody efficacy.
The new study shows that novel BiTE antibodies have strong activity
against CEA-expressing cancer cells in vitro and in animals, even
in the presence of high levels of soluble CEA. "Our new publication
demonstrates not only that BiTE antibodies can be designed to bind
to well established target antigens of conventional monoclonal
antibodies, but also that BiTE antibodies have features that
improve on the properties of conventional antibodies," commented
Micromet's Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Patrick A. Baeuerle. "Many
target antigens for cancer therapy are released by cancer cells
into the blood stream, a process called shedding. The example of
the CEA-specific BiTE antibody suggests that high levels of shed
antigens may not pose a limitation for the anti-tumor activity of
BiTE antibodies." Reference (1)Lutterbuese, R. et al. (2009).
Potent control of tumor growth by CEA/CD3- bispecific single-chain
antibody constructs that are not competitively inhibited by soluble
CEA. Journal of Immunotherapy, April 1, 2009 [epub ahead of print]
About BiTE Antibodies BiTE(R) antibodies are designed to direct the
body's cytotoxic, or cell- destroying, T cells against tumor cells,
and represent a new therapeutic approach to cancer therapy.
Typically antibodies cannot engage T cells because T cells lack the
appropriate receptors for binding antibodies. Previous attempts
have shown the potential of T cells to treat cancer, but the
therapeutic approaches tested to date have been hampered by cancer
cells' ability to escape recognition by T cells. The use of BiTE
antibodies that are specifically designed to engage T cells for
attacking cancer cells may provide a more effective anti-tumor
approach than conventional monoclonal antibodies. About Micromet,
Inc. Micromet, Inc. (http://www.micromet-inc.com/) is a
biopharmaceutical company with offices in Bethesda, MD and Munich,
Germany. The Company is focused on developing novel, proprietary
antibodies for the treatment of cancer, inflammation and autoimmune
diseases. The Company's novel antibody technology is based on its
proprietary BiTE(R) antibody platform, representing a new class of
antibodies that specifically activate T cells from the patient's
own immune system to eliminate cancer cells or other disease
related cells. Four of the Company's antibodies are currently in
clinical trials, with the remainder of its product pipeline in
preclinical development. The Company's lead program is a BiTE
antibody known as blinatumomab, or MT103. It is in a phase 2
clinical trial for the treatment of patients with acute
lymphoblastic leukemia and a phase 1 clinical trial for the
treatment of patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Micromet's
second BiTE antibody in clinical development is MT110, which
targets the epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM). The Company
owns all rights to MT110, which is currently in a phase 1 clinical
trial for the treatment of patients with solid tumors. The
Company's third clinical stage antibody is adecatumumab, also known
as MT201, a traditional human monoclonal antibody that targets
EpCAM-expressing solid tumors. Micromet is developing adecatumumab
in collaboration with Merck Serono in a phase 1b clinical trial
evaluating adecatumumab in combination with docetaxel for the
treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer. Micromet
licensed a fourth clinical stage antibody, MT293, to TRACON
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. MT293 is being developed in a phase 1
clinical trial for the treatment of patients with cancer. The
Company's preclinical programs include MT203 being developed in
collaboration with Nycomed. MT203 is a traditional human antibody
neutralizing the activity of granulocyte/macrophage colony
stimulating factor (GM-CSF), which has potential applications in
the treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, such as
rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, or multiple sclerosis. Micromet
has granted an exclusive option to Bayer Schering Pharma AG to
license a BiTE antibody against an undisclosed solid tumor target.
Additional BiTE antibodies, targeting CEA, CD33, Her2, EGFR and
MCSP, respectively, are in different stages of preclinical
development. Forward-Looking Statements This release contains
certain forward-looking statements that involve risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially
different from historical results or from any future results
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These
forward-looking statements include statements regarding the
efficacy and intended utilization of our product candidates and the
development of our BiTE antibody technology. You are urged to
consider statements that include the words "may," "potential," or
the negative of those words or other similar words to be uncertain
and forward-looking. Factors that may cause actual results to
differ materially from any future results expressed or implied by
any forward-looking statements include the risk that product
candidates that appeared promising in early research, preclinical
studies or clinical trials do not demonstrate safety and/or
efficacy in subsequent clinical trials, the risk that encouraging
results from early research, preclinical studies or clinical trials
may not be confirmed upon further analysis of the detailed results
of such research, preclinical study or clinical trial, and the risk
that additional information relating to the safety, efficacy or
tolerability of our product candidates may be discovered upon
further analysis of preclinical or clinical trial data. These
factors and others are more fully discussed in Micromet's Annual
Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008,
filed with the SEC on March 16, 2009, as well as other filings by
the company with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements are made
pursuant to Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended,
and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended,
and, as such, speak only as of the date made. Micromet, Inc.
undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise. DATASOURCE: Micromet, Inc. CONTACT: US Media: Andrea
tenBroek/Chris Stamm, +1-781-684-0770, ; European Media: Ludger
Wess, +49-40-8816-5964, ; US Investors: Susan Noonan,
+1-212-966-3650, ; European Investors: Ines-Regina Buth,
+49-30-2363-2768, Web Site: http://www.micromet-inc.com/
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