-- Vintafolide for EC145 Therapeutic --
-- Etarfolatide for EC20 Companion Imaging Agent --
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., March 22, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Endocyte, Inc. (Nasdaq:ECYT), a biopharmaceutical company developing targeted small molecule drug conjugates (SMDCs) and companion imaging diagnostics for personalized therapy, today announced that the World Health Organization and the United States Adopted Names (USAN) Council have approved the nonproprietary name "vintafolide" (pronounced vin ta foe' lide) for Endocyte's therapeutic drug candidate EC145 and the nonproprietary name of "etarfolatide" (pronounced et" ar foe' la tide) for Endocyte's companion imaging agent EC20. Vintafolide and etarfolatide are currently being evaluated in the Phase 3 PROCEED trial for the treatment of women with folate-receptor positive platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. Etarfolatide is being used to select patients with tumors that over-express folate receptors and who are most likely to benefit from vintafolide therapy. Endocyte intends to file European Marketing Authorisation Applications for both agents based on positive Phase 2 results.
The USAN Council serves health professionals in the United States by selecting simple, informative, and unique nonproprietary names for drugs by establishing logical nomenclature classifications based on pharmacological and/or chemical relationships to ensure that drug information is communicated accurately and unambiguously. The USAN Council aims for global standardization and unification of drug nomenclature by working closely with the International Nonproprietary Name Programme of the World Health Organization and various national nomenclature groups.
About Vintafolide (EC145)
Vintafolide is a conjugate of the vitamin folate and a super-potent vinca alkaloid. Folate is required for cell division and rapidly dividing cancer cells often over-express folate receptors in order to capture enough folate to support cell division. By attaching a chemotherapy drug to folate through proprietary chemistry, vintafolide targets cancer cells while avoiding most normal cells. This targeted approach is designed to provide treatment with super-potent drugs while lowering toxicity compared to standard chemotherapy.
About Etarfolatide (EC20)
Etarfolatide is a folate-targeted molecular imaging agent that is being developed as a non-invasive method to identify tumors that over-express folate receptors. These tumors are the molecular target of Endocyte's folate-targeted therapeutic compounds such as vintafolide. To date, etarfolatide has been administered to over 550 patients.
About Endocyte
Endocyte is a biopharmaceutical company developing targeted therapies for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases. Endocyte uses its proprietary technology to create novel SMDCs and companion imaging diagnostics for personalized targeted therapies. The company's SMDCs actively target receptors that are over-expressed on diseased cells, relative to healthy cells. This targeted approach is designed to enable the treatment of patients with highly active drugs at greater doses, delivered more frequently, and over longer periods of time than would be possible with the untargeted drug alone. The companion imaging diagnostics are designed to identify patients whose disease over-expresses the target of the therapy and who are therefore more likely to benefit from treatment.