About CTI Cancer Research, Cancer Therapies, and Cancer Drug Development

Making Cancer More Treatable

A Commitment to More Effective Cancer Treatments and Cancer Drugs

As CTI's cancer drugs progress through clinical trials to commercialization, our commitment to patients and the real issues of their cancer treatments grows stronger. The challenge to overcome the therapeutic limitations of cancer treatment provides us with a focus and sense of urgency.

Targeting the Side Effects and Toxicities of Conventional Cancer Therapies

The American Cancer Society reports that cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. It is estimated that one in three American women, and one in two American men will develop cancer in their lifetime.

The most commonly used methods for treating patients with cancer are surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Patients usually receive a combination of these treatments, depending on the type and extent of their disease. At the time of diagnosis, 70% of patients have tumors that already have spread to other parts of the body. So, almost all receive systemic therapy such as chemotherapy during the course of their disease.

Despite recent advances in sequencing the human genome and the introduction of new biologic therapies for the treatment of cancer, almost all patients with advanced cancer will receive chemotherapy at some point during the treatment of their disease. Four classes of chemotherapy agents — anthracyclines, camptothecins, platinates, and taxanes — account for more than 90% of all chemotherapy cancer drug usage. Unfortunately, there are significant limitations and complications associated with these agents that result in a high rate of treatment failure. The principal limitations of chemotherapy in treating cancer include:

Treatment related toxicities
Inability to selectively target tumor tissue
The development of resistance to the cancer-killing effects of chemotherapy

Overcoming the Limitations of Current Cancer Treatment

We believe developing agents that improve on the cornerstone chemotherapy classes fills a significant unmet need for cancer patients. Our cancer drug development pipeline includes next-generation drug candidates for some of the leading classes of chemotherapeutic agents, as well as using cutting edge genomic science to target the right patients for the right drug.

We have one product on the market, Zevalin® (Ibritumomab Tiuxetan), as part of the Zevalin therapeutic regimen, is indicated for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory low-grade, follicular, or transformed B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), including patients with Rituximab-refractory follicular NHL.

Determination of the effectiveness of the Zevalin therapeutic regimen in relapsed or refractory patient populations is based on overall response rates. The effects of the Zevalin therapeutic regimen on survival are not known. For important saftey information regarding Zevalin and its Boxed WARNINGS, please consult the full prescribing information available at www.zevalin.com.

We also have three product candidates in late-stage clinical development— pixantrone, OPAXIO™ (formerly branded as XYOTAX), and brostallicin, and a robust clinical and preclinical product pipeline. Our capabilities span drug development through commercialization. Founded in 1991, our headquarters is in Seattle, Washington and our Italian branch is in Bresso, Italy.

CTI subsidiary Systems Medicine LLC and its systems biology platform will guide development of CTI's oncology products, while Aequus BioPharma, Inc. works to develop and commercialize CTI's Genetic Polymer™ technology.

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Posted May 13, 2008

Copyright © 2004-2008 Cell Therapeutics, Inc., Seattle, WA, USA. All rights reserved. "Making cancer more treatable" is a registered mark of CTI.