WALTHAM, Mass., May 31 /PRNewswire/ -- AltaRex Corp.
(Toronto: AXO, OTC: ALXFF) announced today the appointment to its Board of
Directors of Jacques R. Lapointe, recent President and Chief Operating
Officer of BioChem Pharma, Inc. (Montreal, Quebec), a biopharmaceutical
company recently merged with Shire Pharmaceuticals Group, plc (Chineham,
U.K.). With this appointment, the Company now has 10 board members.
( Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000831/ALTREXLOGO )
Mr. Lapointe brings to the AltaRex Board more than 30 years of leadership
and operational experience with global biotechnology and pharmaceutical
organizations. Prior to BioChem Pharma, Mr. Lapointe was with Glaxo Wellcome
plc for 12 years. His positions with Glaxo included President and CEO of
Glaxo Canada as well as Glaxo Wellcome U.K. As a member of Glaxo's worldwide
executive committee, he also had responsibility for the company's global
business development and commercial development opportunities. Mr. Lapointe
earned his leadership roles through his earlier industry success in
operations, marketing and sales, including a career with Johnson & Johnson
Canada. He has been very active in industry affairs and is a former Chairman
of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of Canada (PMCA), now known as
Canada's Research-based Pharmaceutical Companies (Rx&D).
"Mr. Lapointe brings a wealth of experience in drug development,
registration and commercialization," noted Richard E. Bagley, President and
CEO of AltaRex Corp. "We are very pleased to attract the caliber of Mr.
Lapointe, as his knowledge of and reputation within the biotechnology and
pharmaceutical industries should prove invaluable to the Board," added Antoine
Noujaim, Chairman of the Board.
About AltaRex
AltaRex Corp. is 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 on its web site 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, new corporate alliances, the establishment
of manufacturing processes and the scale up of cell culture material, 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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Related links:
http://www.altarex.com
Photo Notes:
NewsCom:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000831/ALTREXLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, 888-776-6555 or 201-369-3467
Company News On-Call:
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/128163.html or fax,
800-758-5804, ext. 128163
CONTACT:
Sondra Henrichon, Director, Investor
Relations of AltaRex Corp. and Corporate Communications,
781-672-0138, ext. 1510, shenrichon@altarex.com; or Wayne
Hendry, Investor Relations of The Equicom Group, Inc,
416-815-0700, ext. 238, whendry@equicomgroup.com
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