BOULDER, Colo., Sept. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Array BioPharma Inc.
(Nasdaq: ARRY) today announced that it received a $3 million payment from
AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) for achieving a Phase 2 milestone for AZD6244
(ARRY-142886). The payment was triggered upon dosing the first patient in a
Phase 2 trial. AZD6244 (ARRY-142886) is a selective MEK inhibitor that was
in-licensed by AstraZeneca from Array in December 2003.
The previously announced Phase 2 randomized study will compare AZD6244
(ARRY-142886) to temozolomide in the treatment of stage III / IV melanoma
patients. AstraZeneca expects to enroll up to 180 patients at approximately
40 centers worldwide. Additional Phase 2 studies, in a range of other tumors,
are scheduled to start this year.
Initiation of the Phase 2 study is based on the results of the Phase 1b
study which recently completed recruitment, and which included patients with
melanoma and a variety of other solid tumors. The Phase 1 study clearly
demonstrated that AZD6244 (ARRY-142886) inhibits MEK and associated downstream
markers in tumors at doses deemed well tolerated. The full results of this
study will be published later in the year.
Array was responsible for filing the IND and conducting the Phase 1
clinical testing of AZD6244 (ARRY-142886). AstraZeneca is responsible for all
other aspects of clinical development and commercialization.
About the Collaboration:
AstraZeneca acquired exclusive worldwide rights to AZD6244 and certain
second-generation compounds for all oncology indications in December 2003.
Array retains the rights to all therapeutic indications outside of oncology
for compounds not selected by AstraZeneca as part of the collaboration.
About AZD6244 (ARRY-142886)
AZD6244 (ARRY-142886) is a potent, selective MEK inhibitor that is orally
active, that blocks signal transduction pathways implicated in cancer cell
proliferation and survival. AZD6244 (ARRY-142886) has shown tumour
suppressive activity in multiple pre-clinical models of human cancer including
melanoma, pancreatic, colon, lung, and breast cancers.
About MEK Inhibition
MEK is a critical enzyme at the intersection of several biological
pathways, which regulates cell proliferation and survival as part of the
Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK pathway. Activation of the Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK pathway has been
implicated in many cancers, including lung, pancreatic, colon, melanoma and
thyroid cancer. MEK inhibition is an attractive anti-cancer strategy as it
has the potential to block inappropriate signal transduction regardless of the
upstream position of the oncogenic aberration.
About Melanoma
More than 80,000 people are diagnosed with malignant melanoma each year,
approximately 20% of them with advanced disease. Current treatments for
advanced melanoma offer little survival benefit and are associated with
considerable toxicities for the majority of patients. The outlook for
patients with metastatic disease is poor with median survival time of between
6-12 months and a 5-year survival rate of approximately 10%. There is a great
need for new and effective treatments for advanced melanoma that can extend
the life of patients and improve their quality of life while receiving
treatment by reducing the burden of toxicities associated with today's
treatments.
About AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca is a major international healthcare business engaged in the
research, development, manufacture and marketing of prescription
pharmaceuticals and the supply of healthcare services. It is one of the
world's leading pharmaceutical companies with healthcare sales of $23.95
billion and leading positions in sales of gastrointestinal, cardiovascular,
neuroscience, respiratory, oncology and infection products. AstraZeneca is
listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (Global) as well as the FTSE4Good
Index. For further information please visit www.astrazenecapressoffice.com.
About Array BioPharma
Array BioPharma is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery,
development and commercialization of orally active drugs to address
significant unmet medical needs. Our proprietary drug development pipeline is
primarily focused on the treatment of cancer and inflammatory disease and
includes several small molecule drug candidates that are designed to regulate
targets in therapeutically important biologic pathways. We currently have
three drugs in clinical development including our MEK inhibitor for cancer,
AZD6244 (ARRY-142886), which is in Phase 2 with AstraZeneca, and two Array
wholly-owned drugs in Phase 1: ARRY-543, our ErbB-2 / EGFR inhibitor for
cancer, and ARRY-162, our MEK inhibitor for inflammatory disease. For more
information on Array, please go to www.arraybiopharma.com.
Array BioPharma's Forward-Looking Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning
of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve
significant risks and uncertainties, including those discussed in our annual
report filed on form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2006, and in other
reports filed by Array with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Because
these statements reflect our current expectations concerning future events,
our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these
forward-looking statements as a result of many factors. These factors
include, but are not limited to, our ability to continue to fund and
successfully progress internal research efforts and to create effective,
commercially viable drugs, our ability to achieve and maintain profitability,
the extent to which the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries are
willing to in-license drug candidates for their product pipelines and to
collaborate with and fund third parties on their drug discovery activities,
our ability to out-license our proprietary candidates on favorable terms,
risks associated with our dependence on our collaborators for the clinical
development and commercialization of our out-licensed drug candidates, the
ability of our collaborators and of Array to meet objectives tied to
milestones and royalties, and our ability to attract and retain experienced
scientists and management. We are providing this information as of September
14, 2006. We undertake no duty to update any forward-looking statements to
reflect the occurrence of events or circumstances after the date of such
statements or of anticipated or unanticipated events that alter any
assumptions underlying such statements.
SOURCE Array BioPharma Inc.
09/14/2006
CONTACT: Tricia Haugeto of Array BioPharma Inc., +1-303-386-1193,
thaugeto@arraybiopharma.com
Web site: http://www.arraybiopharma.com
http://www.astrazenecapressoffice.com
(ARRY AZN)
