Clinical Trials for Leukemia Exhibiting Encouraging Advancements

PALM BEACH, Florida, March 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Recent developments mentioned in industry sourced article from Medicalexpress.com, a research and technology news service, it was encouraging to see an optimistic headline in cancer treatments. One article stressed the need for more clinical trials. It read: "Advances in treatment for blood cancers depend on clinical trials of new therapies or new therapy combinations. Different types of cancer clinical trials are designed to develop and test new and better ways to: i) Diagnose and treat cancer in people; ii) To Prevent or relieve treatment side effects; iii) Help prevent a return of cancer; and iv) Improve comfort and quality of life for people with cancer". Acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the most common type of adult leukemia, is a cancer of the blood-forming cells of the bone marrow. Currently, most patients with AML are treated with standard chemotherapy. But recent scientific advances have revealed that there are many forms of the disease, each with different specific genetic changes that may affect cancer growth and treatment. As such, there has been increasing research into the development of new targeted therapies that inhibit specific mutations found in AML. These therapies are especially important for patients who are unable to tolerate chemotherapy, or whose cancer has relapsed after standard treatment. Active biotech and pharma companies in the markets this week include Moleculin Biotech, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBRX), Daré Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ: DARE), Amarin Corporation plc (NASDAQ: AMRN), PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: PHAS), Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK).

Another article from MedicalXpress.com had an upbeat headline that read: "Clinical trials show promise in leukemia". Interesting commentary from that article included: "There has been increasing research into the development of new targeted therapies that inhibit specific mutations found in AML. These therapies are especially important for patients who are unable to tolerate chemotherapy, or whose cancer has relapsed after standard treatment. In a recent phase I clinical trial, a team of investigators evaluated the safety and efficacy of an oral medication. The findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). The trial included 258 patients. (and the investigations); showed favorable results among patients with advanced relapsed or refractory AML and was well tolerated with a low rate of serious adverse events. The complete remission rate (including patients who did not have a full blood count recovery) was around 30 percent.

Moleculin Biotech, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBRX) BREAKING NEWS: Moleculin Biotech, a clinical stage pharmaceutical company with a broad portfolio of drug candidates targeting highly resistant tumors, today announced that the first two patients have been enrolled in its European clinical trial of WP1220 for the topical treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL).

"This now marks four clinical trials with patients enrolled," commented Walter Klemp, Moleculin's Chairman and CEO. "In this case, we are targeting CTCL with a topical p-STAT3 inhibitor in light of the significant role that STAT3 appears to play in CTCL skin lesions. Our intent is to take an early read on the first five patients in this trial to assess whether we think topical delivery is viable, so we expect preliminary data to be available during 2019." Read this and more news for MBRX at: https://www.financialnewsmedia.com/news-mbrx/   

Other recent developments in the biotech industry include:

Daré Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ: DARE) recently announced the publication of clinical findings for vaginally-administered tamoxifen in Clinical and Experimental Obstetrics and Gynecology, a leading international journal for publication of research focused on the development of new therapeutic interventions for obstetrics and gynecology. According to Tomi Kilgore of MarketWatch, shares of Daré Bioscience Inc. rocketed 129% on very heavy volume toward a 13-month high in afternoon trading Monday, after the biopharmaceutical company announced positive findings for the use of its DARE-VVA1 product candidate in treating vulvar and vaginal atrophy (VVA). DARE closed up over 130% at $2.10 trading over 49.7 Million shares by the market close on Monday.

Amarin Corporation plc (NASDAQ: AMRN) recently announced that real-world data reported by the U.S. Veteran's Administration supports that patients with elevated triglyceride (TG) levels, despite statin therapy, had a significant 19% relative risk increase in a composite of cardiovascular events during a follow-up period of up to five years. These findings are consistent with previous observational, real-world, epidemiological, and genetic data that have consistently found an association between elevated TG levels and major adverse cardiovascular events.

These findings, in a poster titled, "Increased Residual Cardiovascular Risk in US Veterans with Moderately-Elevated Baseline Triglycerides and Well-Controlled LDL-C Levels on Statins," were presented at the American College of Cardiology's (ACC) 68^th Annual Scientific Session on, March 18, 2019 in New Orleans, LA. 

PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: PHAS) a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel therapies for orphan diseases, recently announced that results from the Phase 1 clinical trial of PB2452, a novel reversal agent for the antiplatelet drug ticagrelor, demonstrated that PB2452 provided immediate and sustained reversal of ticagrelor antiplatelet effects without report of drug-related serious adverse events. The results were published online on March 17, 2019 in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) in a paper titled, "An Antibody-Based Ticagrelor Reversal Agent in Normal Volunteers" and were presented by Deepak Bhatt, M.D., M.P.H., executive director of Interventional Cardiovascular Programs at Brigham and Women's Hospital and professor at Harvard Medical School, in a featured clinical research session at the American College of Cardiology's 68th Annual Scientific Session (ACC.19) in New Orleans.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK) recently announced that Health Canada has expanded the label for KEYTRUDA^® (pembrolizumab), Merck's anti-PD-1 therapy, to include approval for the treatment of metastatic non-squamous NSCLC, in combination with pemetrexed and platinum chemotherapy, in adults with no EGFR or ALK genomic tumour aberrations, and no prior systemic chemotherapy treatment for metastatic NSCLC.

"Lung cancer is the deadliest form of cancer in Canada. It is vital that we continue to develop new approaches to treating this, sadly, too common disease," said Dr. Normand Blais , medical oncologist at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Montréal.

DISCLAIMER: FN Media Group LLC (FNM), which owns and operates FinancialNewsMedia.com and MarketNewsUpdates.com, is a third party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels. FNM is NOT affiliated in any manner with any company mentioned herein. FNM and its affiliated companies are a news dissemination solutions provider and are NOT a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may NOT sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security. FNM's market updates, news alerts and corporate profiles are NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold securities. The material in this release is intended to be strictly informational and is NEVER to be construed or interpreted as research material. All readers are strongly urged to perform research and due diligence on their own and consult a licensed financial professional before considering any level of investing in stocks. All material included herein is republished content and details which were previously disseminated by the companies mentioned in this release. FNM is not liable for any investment decisions by its readers or subscribers. Investors are cautioned that they may lose all or a portion of their investment when investing in stocks. For current services performed FNM has been compensated forty six hundred dollars for news coverage of the current press releases issued by Moleculin Biotech, Inc. by the company. FNM HOLDS NO SHARES OF ANY COMPANY NAMED IN THIS RELEASE.

This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected," "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and FNM undertakes no obligation to update such statements.

Media Contact : 
editor@financialnewsmedia.com
+1(561)325-8757