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Finance
Big boost for Progen - Positive results in liver cancer study
Liam Walsh
349 words
16 April 2007
The Courier-Mail


THE biotechnology sector received a boost at the weekend after Brisbane-based Progen Pharmaceuticals unveiled further positive results into a liver cancer treatment.

Progen said the latest results of second-round trials conducted in Taiwan confirmed its tumour-fighting compound PI-88 delayed "recurrence of disease and increased the likelihood that the patient would be disease-free for a longer period".

Industry analysts Bioshares yesterday described the result as good and in line with earlier outcomes.

"It allows the company to move into the final (third-round) stage of development," Bioshares' Mark Pachacz said. "The compound had a tolerable safety profile."

He said the result was "encouraging" given a lack of alternative pharmaceutical treatments. The results come after a rise from $5.75 to $9.11 since early last month in Progen shares as investors awaited the latest findings.

That price is off all-time highs of $13.18 in 1997, but contrasts with the same time last year of $3.30.

The result follows mixed sector outcomes -- Avexa posted positive data from a HIV trial but Metabolic axed a planned weight-loss drug after poor results.

Progen's trial assessed the appropriate dosage and effectiveness of PI-88 in reducing tumour recurrence in patients who had undergone surgery to remove liver cancer.

Investigators examined what happened 48 weeks after treatment began.

About 63 per cent of patients injected with 160mg doses of PI-88 remained disease-free after 48 weeks, compared with 50 per cent of patients not treated with PI-88.

It also found the time taken for tumours to re-emerge improved 78 per cent in those treated with PI-88 compared with untreated patients (to 48 weeks from 27 weeks).

Progen chief executive officer Justus Homburg said the results, released in Barcelona, gave "confidence to aggressively pursue the development of PI-88 towards registration and commercialisation".

Progen is aiming for third-round trials in the second half of this year and a product launch in 2011.



Market Wrap - Street Talk
Healthy outlook for Progen shares
Jemima Whyte
85 words
16 April 2007
Australian Financial Review (Abstracts)

Progen Pharmaceuticals shares are expected to make a good start to the week after results were released from the phase 2b trials for its liver cancer drug, PI-88.

Phase three trials will begin in the second half of the year, with placement and rights issue possible in the coming months to fund them.