CALGARY, AB, --- April 11, 2007 - Oncolytics Biotech Inc. ("Oncolytics") (TSX:ONC, NASDAQ:ONCY) announced that subsequent to the regulatory review period for this submission, it is proceeding with a Phase II trial to evaluate the intravenous administration of REOLYSIN® in patients with various sarcomas that have metastasized to the lung. The Principal Investigators are Dr. Glenn S. Kroog of the Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York, Dr. Laurence H. Baker of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center in Ann Arbor, and Dr. Monica Mita of the Cancer Therapy and Research Center, Institute for Drug Development in San Antonio, Texas.
"This multi-centre, Phase II trial follows the successful completion of systemic administration trials with REOLYSIN® in the U.K. and the U.S.," said Dr. Karl Mettinger, Chief Medical Officer of Oncolytics. "This trial is the second in a series of Phase II trials the Company has planned for this year, and represents yet another step forward in the Company's clinical development strategy for REOLYSIN®. We are excited to expand our clinical program to specifically include patients with sarcomas."
The trial (REO 014) is a Phase II, open-label, single agent study whose primary objective is to measure tumour responses and duration of response, and to describe any evidence of antitumour activity of intravenous, multiple dose REOLYSIN® in patients with bone and soft tissue sarcomas metastatic to the lung. REOLYSIN® will be given intravenously to patients at a dose of 3x1010 TCID50 for five consecutive days. Patients may receive additional five-day cycles of therapy every four weeks for a maximum of eight cycles. Up to 52 patients will be enrolled in the study.
Eligible patients must have a bone or soft tissue sarcoma metastatic to the lung deemed by their physician to be unresponsive to, or untreatable by standard therapies. These include patients with osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma family tumours, malignant fibrous histiocytoma, synovial sarcoma, fibrosarcoma and leiomyosarcoma.
About Oncolytics Biotech Inc.
Oncolytics is a Calgary-based biotechnology company focused on the development of oncolytic viruses as potential cancer therapeutics. Oncolytics' clinical program includes a variety of Phase I and Phase II human trials using REOLYSIN®, its proprietary formulation of the human reovirus, alone and in combination with radiation or chemotherapy. For further information about Oncolytics, please visit www.oncolyticsbiotech.com
This press release contains forward-looking statements, within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements, including the Company's expectations related to the U.S. Phase II sarcoma clinical trial and the Company's belief as to the potential of REOLYSIN® as a cancer therapeutic, involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the availability of funds and resources to pursue research and development projects, the efficacy of REOLYSIN® as a cancer treatment, the tolerability of REOLYSIN® outside a controlled test, the success and timely completion of clinical studies and trials, the Company's ability to successfully commercialize REOLYSIN®, uncertainties related to the research and development of pharmaceuticals and uncertainties related to the regulatory process. Investors should consult the Company's quarterly and annual filings with the Canadian and U.S. securities commissions for additional information on risks and uncertainties relating to the forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned against placing undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update these forward-looking statements.