Company expands its management team to accelerate the evaluation of OT-101 for Oncology and COVID-19
Agoura Hills, California, July 07, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mateon Therapeutics (OTC.QB: MATN), a late-stage biotechnology company developing Trabedersen (OT-101), a TGF-β inhibitor with the potential for multiple therapeutic indications including glioblastoma, pancreatic cancer, melanoma and COVID-19, appointed Anthony Maida, III, Ph.D., MA, MBA as Chief Clinical Officer - Translational Medicine for the Company.
Dr. Maida, a director of the Company since 2015, will retain his position as Board of Director. Dr. Maida is an expert in the clinical development of immuno-oncology and related products. For close to 30 years, Dr. Maida has been involved in all aspects of commercial clinical, preclinical and scientific development of biotherapeutics including translational medicine, protocol design, FDA interactions, manufacturing process validation, and data assessment. He has served in numerous executive and C-suite roles including Chairman, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Operating Officer (COO), Chief Scientific Officer (CSO), and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for companies ranging from startups to public companies. Dr. Maida has served on multiple Boards of Directors and Advisory Boards for public and private companies, hedge funds, venture capital and pharma. He is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the Society of Neuro-Oncology (SNO), the International Society for Biological Therapy of Cancer (iSBTC), and the American Chemical Society (ACS). Prior to graduate school, Dr. Maida was Senior Controller for Lockheed Missile and Space Company, reporting on $1.7 billion in revenue, and Vice President Finance – CFO of Lockheed DataPlan, Inc. Dr. Maida holds a Ph.D. in Immunology (tumor immunology), Master Degree in Toxicology, an MBA and two bachelor degrees (history and biology).
Dr. Maida, commented, “I look forward to driving the clinical development of OT-101 to its eventual approval as therapeutic against COVID-19 and other indications. The Mateon team has done a tremendous job bringing OT-101 to this stage of development and I look forward to working closely with the entire clinical team, our patients, our investigators, and our collaborators.”
Dr. Vuong Trieu, Chief Executive Officer of Mateon said, “We are honored that Dr. Maida has accepted the additional responsibilities within the Company. With Dr. Maida at the helm we have further strengthened our clinical operation to deliver shareholder values across our therapeutic platforms.”
About Coronavirus Disease 2019
Mateon is currently developing OT-101 as a TGF-β inhibitor against the TGF-β surge associated with COVID-19 that potentially drive the diverse clinical symptoms observed with COVID-19.
Coronavirus entry into cells is followed by suppression of cellular replication and redirection of cellular machineries to the replication of the virus. Cell cycle arrest is also centrally mediated by up-regulation of TGF-β. SARS coronavirus upregulates TGF-β via its nucleocapsid protein and papain-like protease (PLpro). SARS coronavirus PLpro activates TGF-β1 transcription both in cell-based assay and in mouse model with direct pulmonary injection. TGF-β overexpression in SARS patients lung samples also been demonstrated. Suppression of TGF-β expression by OT-101 suppressed SARS-CoV1 and SARS-CoV2 replication in the viral replication assays. This means as viral load increases there will be a proportional increase in TGF-β which in turn drives the progression of COVID-19 disease. By targeting TGF-β, OT-101 shuts off the engine behind COVID-19 allowing patients to recover without going into respiratory crisis. In fact, the administration of a soluble type II TGF-β receptor, which sequesters free TGF-β during lung injury and protected wild-type mice from pulmonary edema induced by bleomycin or Escherichia coli endotoxin.
Furthermore, mice specifically lacking bronchial epithelial TGF-b1 (epTGFbKO) displayed marked protection from influenza-induced weight loss, airway inflammation, and pathology. Additionally, these mice exhibited a heighted antiviral state resulting in impaired viral replication in epTGFbKO mice. Their publication succinctly described the impact of TGF-β suppression against viral infection and we would propose that TGF-beta inhibitor would result in very similar if not the same protective responses against COVID-19.
A TGF-beta inhibitor is expected to broadly impacted COVID-19 disease and we would encourage developers of TGF-beta to collaborate and build on these observations such that we can arrive at a cure for COVID-19- either as single agent or combination with Remdesivir.
About Mateon’s Lead Product Candidate, OT-101
High-grade gliomas (HGG) are characterized by a T-cell exhaustion signature and pronounced T-cell hyporesponsiveness of their tumor microenvironment (TME). Transforming growth factor beta 2 (TGF- β2) has been implicated as a key contributor to the immunosuppressive landscape of the TME in HGG. OT-101, a first-in-class RNA therapeutic designed to abrogate the immunosuppressive actions of TGF- β2, is Oncotelic’s lead anti-brain tumor drug candidate. OT-101 has been granted orphan designation by the FDA under the Orphan Drug Act (ODA). ODA provides for granting special status to a drug to treat a rare disease or condition upon request of a drug company. Orphan designation qualifies the sponsor of the drug for various development incentives of the ODA, including tax credits for qualified clinical testing. In a completed Phase 2 clinical study, OT-101 exhibited clinically meaningful single-agent activity and induced durable complete and partial responses in recurrent and refractory adult HGG patients, including young adults with GBM or AA.
About Mateon Therapeutics
Mateon was created by the recent reverse merger with Oncotelic which became a wholly owned subsidiary of Mateon Therapeutics Inc. (OTCQB:MATN) creating an immuno-oncology company dedicated to the development of first in class RNA therapeutics as well as small molecule drugs against cancer. OT-101, the lead immuno-oncology drug candidate of Mateon/Oncotelic, is a first-in-class anti-TGF beta RNA therapeutic that exhibited single agent activity in some relapsed/refractory cancer patients in clinical trial settings. Mateon/Oncotelic is seeking to leverage its deep expertise in oncology drug development to improve treatment outcomes and survival of cancer patients with a special emphasis on pediatric cancer patients. Mateon has rare pediatric designation for DIPG (CA4P) and melanoma (CA4P). For more information, please visit www.oncotelic.com and www.mateon.com.
Mateon's Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this communication regarding strategy, future operations, future financial position, prospects, plans and objectives of management are forward-looking statements. Words such as “may”, “expect”, “anticipate” “hope”, “vision”, “optimism”, “design”, “exciting”, “promising”, “will”, “conviction”, "estimate," "intend," "believe", “quest for a cure of cancer”, “innovation-driven”, “paradigm-shift”, “high scientific merit”, “impact potential” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements about future plans, the progress, timing, clinical development, scope and success of future clinical trials, the reporting of clinical data for the company’s product candidates and the potential use of the company’s product candidates to treat various cancer indications. Each of these forward-looking statements involves risks and uncertainties and actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements. Many factors may cause differences between current expectations and actual results, including unexpected safety or efficacy data observed during preclinical or clinical studies, clinical trial site activation or enrollment rates that are lower than expected, changes in expected or existing competition, changes in the regulatory environment, failure of collaborators to support or advance collaborations or product candidates and unexpected litigation or other disputes. These risks are not exhaustive, the company faces known and unknown risks, including the risk factors described in the company’s annual report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on May 20, 2020 and in the company’s other periodic filings. Forward-looking statements are based on expectations and assumptions as of the date of this press release. Except as required by law, the company does not assume any obligation to update forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in expectations, whether as a result of new information future events, or otherwise.
Contact Information:
For Mateon Therapeutics, Inc.:
Amit Shah