VIVENTIA RECEIVES FAST-TRACK DESIGNATION FOR PROXINIUM

Viventia Biotech has announced that the FDA has designated the company's lead drug, Proxinium, as a fast-track product for the treatment of patients with recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Proxinium combines a powerful cytotoxic protein payload with the highly precise tumor-targeting characteristics of a monoclonal antibody. A single molecule of the cytotoxic protein payload, Pseudomonas exotoxin, is capable of killing a cancer cell. The antibody fragment of Proxinium targets EpCAM -- an antigen that is highly expressed in many epithelial cancers, including head and neck cancer -- ensuring that the payload is delivered directly to the tumor.