HOLLIS-EDEN REPORTS PUBLICATION OF DATA ON RADIATION DRUG

Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals has reported study results demonstrating that its acute radiation syndrome drug candidate, Neumune (HE2100), significantly improved survival in clinically unsupported rhesus monkeys with radiation-induced myelosuppression. The study is being published in the April issue of International Immunopharmacology.

The company believes these data represent the first instance where a compound administered as a single agent after exposure favorably affected survival in lethally irradiated, clinically unsupported nonhuman primates. In the event of a nuclear mass-casualty event, a standalone therapy not requiring supportive clinical care would be critical for improving survival, according to the company.

Eighty rhesus monkeys exposed to total body irradiation (TBI) did not have access to clinical support such as antibiotics, IV fluids and platelet transfusions. Neumune, when administered intramuscularly up to four hours after TBI exposure and daily for a total of five days significantly reduced the number of deaths in treated animals. In the placebo group, 32.5 percent of animals died, versus only 12.5 percent in the Neumune group.

Furthermore, platelet level at day 14 after TBI was the strongest predictor of survival in these studies, whereas neither neutrophil level nor days of febrile neutropenia were accurate predictors of survival. The company believes these findings indicate that therapies that protect platelet levels are at least as important as therapies that protect neutrophils.

Hollis-Eden is developing Neumune with the goal of securing an advance purchase contract under Project BioShield.