December 8, 2009 (FinancialWire) — OXiGENE, Inc. (NASDAQ: OXGN) (Stockholm: OXGN), a clinical-stage, biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics to treat cancer and eye diseases, announced the presentation of data from preclinical studies carried out by Christopher R. Cogle, M.D., Assistant Professor, Medicine, University of Florida, senior author on the poster.

The studies were conducted in mouse xenograft and orthotopic models of acute myelogenous leukemia, and showed that OXi4503, a second-generation, dual-action vascular disrupting agent, demonstrated a higher level of anti-leukemic activity when administered as a single agent or in combination with bevacizumab, an anti-VEGF antibody, than when bevacizumab was used alone.

Notably, results showed that OXi4503 alone and in combination with bevacizumab showed more effectiveness in inducing regression of leukemic cells in bone marrow than bevacizumab alone or placebo. The data were presented on Saturday, December 5th, in a poster at the 2009 American Society of Hematology conference.

The data reported at ASH were presented in a poster, titled “AML Regression by Vascular Disruption with OXi4503 and Anti-Angiogenesis with bevacizumab.”

To test the efficacy of OXi4503 in human AML, human leukemia cells were established in mouse xenograft models. Two models were used: a subcutaneous model and an orthotopic model where primary human leukemia cells were established in the bone marrow.

In the subcutaneous model, tumor bearing mice were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups: control, bevacizumab alone, OXi4503 alone, and combination OXi4503 and bevacizumab. Results showed that treatment with OXi4503 significantly inhibited tumor growth and moreover, when used in combination with bevacizumab, tumor regressions were observed. These changes in tumor growth observed when OXi4503 was administered, either alone or in combination with bevacizumab, were associated with significant reductions in tumor vascularity as measured by microvessel density.

In the orthotopic model, primary human leukemia cells were introduced intravenously into the mice and after six weeks, once tumors had established in the marrow, treatment was initiated. After two weeks of treatment, mice were examined for human leukemia engraftment using flow cytometry and PCR. Leukemic cell burden was significantly decreased by treatment with OXi4503 and eliminated by the combination of OXi4503 with bevacizumab.

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