PEREGRINE ANNOUNCES ADDITIONAL TRIAL SITE FOR TARVACIN STUDY

Peregrine Pharmaceuticals today announced that the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center has initiated patient enrollment in an ongoing Phase I clinical trial of Tarvacin Anti-Cancer. The purpose of the trial is to assess the safety and tolerability and study the pharmacokinetics of Tarvacin Anti-Cancer in patients with advanced solid tumor malignancies who have failed to respond to available treatments.

Tarvacin Anti-Cancer is a monoclonal antibody that binds specifically to phospholipids, a basic component of the cell structure that is exposed only on the surface of tumor blood vessel cells and is not present on normal cells. Once bound to the tumor blood vessels, the drug alerts the body's immune system to attack the tumor and its blood supply, while minimizing effects on non-targeted healthy cells. The Phase I trial is already underway at two cancer centers in Arizona and one in California.

This is an open-label, dose-escalation study designed to accommodate up to 28 patients with advanced solid tumors who are no longer responsive to standard cancer treatments. The objectives are to determine the safety and tolerability of Tarvacin Anti-Cancer administered intravenously to patients with advanced cancer, to characterize Tarvacin blood levels and to define the maximum tolerated and/or maximum effective dose.