BEVERLY, MA–(Marketwired – Oct 13, 2014) – Cellceutix Corporation (OTCQB: CTIX) (the “Company”), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapies in oncology, dermatology and antibiotic applications, is pleased to announce that its IND has become effective and that the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has been selected as a clinical site for Cellceutix’s Phase 2 trial of Brilacidin-OM as a novel treatment for oral mucositis. There are currently no drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating the approximately 500,000 people each year who have oral mucositis from head and neck cancers, a common and often debilitating condition affecting the mouth and pharynx as a side effect of certain cancer treatments, including chemotherapy and radiation therapy given.
Cellceutix had submitted its Investigational New Drug application to the FDA in September.
This is the fourth clinical trial program at Cellceutix. The three other programs are cancer (solid tumors), Acute Bacterial Skin and Skin Structure Infections (ABSSSI), and psoriasis.
“We are extremely pleased to continue to associate our Company with the upper echelon of institutions in the country as we commence our initiatives in immunomodulatory conditions,” commented Dr. Krishna Menon, Chief Scientific Officer at Cellceutix. “Because we immediately advanced Brilacidin into a Phase 2b clinical trial for Acute Bacterial Skin and Skin Structure Infections (ABSSSI), many people don’t realize that it was the immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory properties of Brilacidin that we were equally as excited about, even as much as the antibiotic properties, when we acquired the defensin-mimetic franchise last year. Oral mucositis is a significant area of unmet medical need that has frustrated healthcare providers for years, which we believe our data shows Brilacidin will have a meaningful impact. We think this is just the beginning, though, as we are working on other tremendous opportunities pursuing the immunomodulatoryproperties of Brilacidin as weengage in studies on Crohn’s Disease, Ulcerative Colitis and Inflammatory Bowel Disease, immune conditions that have repeatedly confounded scientists and left countless patients in pain with no therapeutic options.”
Regarding the ABSSSI trial, which compared short-course treatments of Brilacidin to FDA-approved treatments of daptomycin, Cellceutix is pleased to update shareholders that the data from all trial sites has been locked and top-line data is expected this month.