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Pharmion Corporation has said that data from 36 abstracts of studies investigating the company’s marketed and pipeline haematology products would this weekend be presented at the American Society of Hematology’s (ASH) 49th Annual Meeting and Exposition in Atlanta.
These abstracts include summaries of data from studies of several key products in the company’s commercial and development portfolio for a variety of indications, including Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS), acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), multiple myeloma (MM), Hodgkin’s lymphoma (HL), and two forms of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL).
“ASH promises to be a very exciting meeting for us, with a focus on the detailed presentation of data from the Vidaza overall survival study, which demonstrate an unprecedented survival benefit compared to conventional care regimens, as well as other compelling study data on Vidaza, Thalidomide and MGCD0103,” said Patrick J. Mahaffy, president and chief executive officer of Pharmion.
“The data from 36 abstracts, including 23 posters and 13 oral presentations, to be presented demonstrates the progress of our pipeline and we are very enthusiastic about our participation this year.”
Studies presented at this year’s ASH meeting will report the complete Phase 3 data set from a study demonstrating that Vidaza (azacitidine for injection) provides a significant survival benefit beyond that of conventional care regimens for higher-risk MDS patients. Other data to be presented at the meeting include alternate dosing schedules of Vidaza and the use of Vidaza as a maintenance therapy for patients with higher-risk MDS and AML.
Additionally, data from a study of Vidaza in combination with MGCD0103 in MDS and AML will be presented at ASH, as will poster presentations featuring study results from two on-going single-agent Phase 2 MGCD0103 trials, one in refractory/relapsed classical HL patients and the other in diffuse large B cell lymphoma and follicular lymphoma, two forms of NHL.
“The data on Pharmion’s products being presented at ASH clearly demonstrate the importance of epigenetic therapy in the treatment of haematologic malignancies and Pharmion’s leadership position in the field of epigenetics,” said Andrew R Allen, chief medical officer of Pharmion.
“In particular, the data being presented confirming the clinical responses with Vidaza, MGCD0103 and their combination suggest a promising synergistic treatment approach using epigenetic therapies.”
Pharmion’s portfolio of epigenetic therapies includes three developmental programs: Vidaza and oral azacitidine, both DNA demethylating agents; MGCD0103, a HDAC inhibitor; and sirtuin inhibitors, Pharmion’s newest epigenetic research programme.
Pharmion currently markets Vidaza, the parenteral formulation of Azacitidine, in the US and several additional countries for the treatment of patients with MDS, and as previously mentioned the full data set from the Phase 3 study of Vidaza’s effect on overall survival in higher-risk MDS patients will be presented at the meeting.
Data from a study evaluating the addition of Thalidomide to front-line melphalan/prednisone (MP) therapy in newly diagnosed elderly patients with multiple myeloma will be the subject of an oral presentation at ASH, where two oral presentations and three posters on Thalidomide studies will be presented.
