Soligenix Announces Positive Survival Results of SGX202 in Radiation Injury; $SNGXD

Soligenix, Inc. (OTCBB: SNGXD) is a late-stage biopharmaceutical company developing products to treat life-threatening side effects of cancer treatments and serious gastrointestinal diseases, and vaccines for certain bioterrorism agents. Soligenix's lead product, orBec® (oral beclomethasone dipropionate or BDP), is a potent, locally acting corticosteroid being developed for the treatment of acute gastrointestinal Graft-versus-Host disease (GI GVHD), a common and potentially life-threatening complication of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation.

The company announced additional promising preliminary results from "its continuing preclinical study of SGX202 (oral beclomethasone dipropionate or BDP) in a canine gastrointestinal acute radiation syndrome (GI ARS) model." These new study results indicate that dogs treated with SGX202 beginning "24 hours after exposure to lethal doses of total body irradiation (TBI) demonstrated statistically significant (p=0.04) improvement in survival when compared to control dogs. This study builds upon the previous results which showed statistically significant survival in dogs when dosing of SGX202 was initiated two hours after lethal doses of TBI."

George Georges, MD, Associate Member of the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Principal Investigator for the study, commented,

"These 24 hour post-exposure results confirm earlier findings and suggest that SGX202 may significantly improve survival from GI ARS. SGX202 may potentially inhibit the cellular and innate immune mechanisms within the gut mucosa that exaggerate mucosal damage, and improve GI recovery after radiation. In the challenging area of radiation injury, the second study also met its primary objective in protecting dogs from GI ARS and extending their survival. We are completing our analysis of the data so that we may extend our investigations of SGX202 in GI recovery after radiation exposure and build upon these promising results."

Christopher J. Schaber, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Soligenix, added,

"We are very pleased with the results to date with SGX202 in GI ARS. Based on these data and our positive preliminary interactions with both the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), it is our intent to continue to seek additional funding for the continued development of SGX202."

The study was supported by a $1 million grant from the NIAID.

Read the full article at Drugs.com.