NEWS & EVENTS
PRESS RELEASES 2005
ELUSYS TO PRESENT AT BIOSQUARE CONFERENCE IN FRANCE
Talk Highlights Company’s Concentration in Infectious Disease
(Pine Brook, NJ – April 13, 2005) – Elusys Therapeutics Inc. will provide an update on its infectious disease pipeline and the utility of its Heteropolymer antibody technology to treat infectious diseases at the BioSquare partnering conference in Lyon, France on April 14, 2005. The presentation will focus on its lead commercial candidate, a drug for the treatment of Staphylococcus aureus.
“Our Heteropolymer (HP) antibody technology has shown tremendous promise against Staphylococcus aureus, even exceeding our own expectations,” said Elizabeth Posillico, PhD, president of Elusys. “The BioSquare conference offers us a unique opportunity to present our capabilities in infectious disease to potential partners.”
Elusys is currently developing an HP drug (ETI-211) to combat S. aureus infections. The drug is expected to be broadly effective against antibiotic resistant strains including methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA).
Compelling preclinical data
Elusys presented very compelling preclinical data on ETI-211 at the 44th ICAAC meeting in October 2004: studies showed that mice given the drug were completely protected against lethal injections of S. aureus, including MRSA. Additionally, HP treated mice were protected from a second lethal injection of S. aureus even in the absence of further HP treatment.
“Based on these and other data, it is our belief that a broad array of infectious diseases can be effectively prevented and treated with HP antibody drugs,” said George Elston, vice president of finance at Elusys. Mr. Elston will present the overview of the Company’s infectious disease pipeline at the BioSquare meeting.
Elusys, a New Jersey-based biopharmaceutical company, is focused on developing first-in-class antibody therapies for the treatment of infectious disease. The Company’s most advanced product, Anthim™, is an antibody therapeutic for the treatment of anthrax, a category A biowarfare agent. As the ETI-211 HP has demonstrated significant efficacy in the prophylaxis and treatment of S. aureus in animal models, Elusys intends to develop additional HP antibody drugs to treat other bacterial, fungal and viral infections.
The Elusys preclinical pipeline also contains product candidates for lupus, lymphoma and deep vein thrombosis. The lupus HP product has completed a phase I trial in humans and both the lymphoma antibody and the thrombolytic HP are in advanced preclinical testing. Elusys is currently seeking partners to accelerate further development of these compounds.
Biosquare 2005 offers a unique platform for the top management of biotechnology companies to meet with key research and business development executives from the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, agricultural, food, and finance industries. In fewer than five years, BioSquare has become the most international partnering event of its kind to take place in Europe and is positioned as the industry's premier spring partnering convention.