WALTHAM, May 10 /PRNewswire/ -- AltaRex Corp. (AXO.TO, ALXFF.OTC)
announced today that the Company has obtained an exclusive worldwide license
for a family of four U.S issued patents and foreign counterparts from the
Alberta Research Council, Inc. (ARC) in Edmonton, Alberta. These additions to
the Company's intellectual property portfolio provide AltaRex with a strong
foundation for developing novel treatments in the area of
autoimmune/inflammatory disease, such as multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease,
and allergy/asthma. The Company's current proprietary technology applies to
a number of disease areas (cancer, infectious disease and
autoimmune/inflammatory disease), with current clinical development focused on
cancer.
"We believe that we have a broad technology platform, and anticipate
generating near term return from our antibodies to treat cancer. We are
prudently extending our intellectual property now, with a future focus on
promising and synergistic therapeutic areas," commented Richard E. Bagley,
President and CEO of AltaRex Corp.
"ARC is very pleased to be able to license Alberta technology to AltaRex.
The Company is well positioned to take this technology into the marketplace,"
said Karen Beliveau, Director Technology Commercialization Office of the
Alberta Research Council. "In our ongoing efforts to accelerate innovations
in life sciences, the ARC will continue to pursue opportunities which help
turn applied research into commercial results."
The family of U.S. issued patents obtained by AltaRex from the ARC
includes three method patents titled "Anti Inflammatory Tolerogenic and
Immunoinhibiting Properties of Carbohydrate Binding Peptides" and one
composition patent titled "Lectin Derived Carbohydrate Binding Peptides".
These patents are relevant to the Company's established proprietary expertise
in the use of binding agents, specifically antibodies, to alter patients'
immune system responses in a therapeutically beneficial manner.
About Alberta Research Council, Inc.
The Alberta Research Council develops and commercializes technologies to
give customers a competitive advantage. The corporation performs applied
research and development on a contract or fee basis, and co-ventures with
others to develop new technologies, deriving a return on investment from the
commercialization of new products and processes. ARC also conducts applied
research projects for the public good and to support provincial science and
technology needs and strategies. The ARC celebrates 80 years of innovation in
2001. For more information see us at http://www.arc.ab.ca.
About AltaRex
AltaRex Corp. is primarily focused on the research, development and
commercialization of antigen-targeted antibody-based cancer therapies,
utilizing monoclonal antibodies as immunotherapeutic agents for the treatment
of certain late-stage cancers. OvaRex(R) MAb targets the tumor associated
antigen CA 125 and is in the final stages of clinical evaluation for ovarian
cancer with commercialization expected in the United States, assuming timely
regulatory approval under accelerated provisions, in 2002. Clinical data
reported to date evidence a prolongation in time to relapse and/or survival in
the treatment of ovarian cancer, without the toxicities seen with
chemotherapy. BrevaRex(R) MAb targets the tumor associated antigen MUC1 and
has successfully completed a Phase I safety and immunology study. The Company
plans to initiate a Phase I/II clinical study of BrevaRex(R) MAb for the
treatment of multiple myeloma this year. ProstaRex(TM) MAb targets the tumor
associated antigen PSA and has successfully demonstrated robust T and B cell
immune responses in preclinical study.
Additional information about AltaRex research and development, news and
events can be found at http://www.altarex.com. AltaRex Corp. is traded on the
Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol AXO, and over-the-counter in the
United States under the symbol ALXFF. Clinical information can be found at
http://www.centerwatch.com. Additional information about ovarian cancer can be found
at http://www.nci.nih.gov, http://www.ovarian.org., http://www.ovariancancer.org and at
http://www.ovariancanada.org. Additional information about multiple myeloma can be
found at http://www.multiplemyeloma.org.
This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks
and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from
the statements made. For this purpose, any statements that are contained
herein that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-
looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing, the words "believes,"
"anticipates," "plans," "intends," "expects" and similar expressions are
intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties
include, but are not limited to our need for capital and the risk that the
Company can not raise funds on a timely basis on satisfactory terms or at all,
changing market conditions, completion of clinical trials, patient enrollment
rates, uncertainty of pre-clinical, retrospective and early clinical trial
results, which may not be indicative of results that will be obtained in
ongoing or future clinical trials, the establishment of manufacturing
processes and new corporate alliances, the timely development, regulatory
approval and market acceptance of the Company's products, uncertainty as to
whether patents will issue from pending patent applications and, if issued, as
to whether such patents will be sufficiently broad to protect the Company's
technology, and other risks detailed from time-to-time in the Company's
filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and Canadian
securities authorities.
THE TORONTO STOCK EXCHANGE HAS NOT APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED OF THE
INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN.
SOURCE AltaRex Corp.
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CONTACT:
Sondra Henrichon, Director, Investor
Relations and Corporate Communications of AltaRex Corp.,
781-672-0138, ext. 1510, shenrichon@altarex.com; Wayne Hendry,
Investor Relations of The Equicom Group, Inc, 416-815-0700, ext.
238 whendry@equicomgroup.com
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