Business Wire - June 19, 2002
Existing drugs to treat Hepatitis C totaled $1.4 billion in annual sales in 2001 and were effective in only 30-40% of the patients treated. According to the Front Line Strategic Consulting report, great opportunity exists for new Hepatitis C drugs with greater efficacy and safety profiles. The report stated that treatments for Hepatitis C are projected to reach $4 billion by 2007.
Four million Americans and 170 million people worldwide are affected by Hepatitis C, a highly infectious virus that enters the bloodstream unnoticed and can remain there for decades. Once in the bloodstream, Hepatitis C can mutate continuously, making it extremely difficult to eradicate. A high probability of chronic disease (60-70%) of all reported cases results from long-term exposure to the virus, many of the infected develop life-threatening chronic liver disease.
Experiments conducted by Immtech's Consortium scientists show that the Company's compounds work in the early life cycle of the Hepatitis C virus. The advanced assay system selected by Immtech is designed to test the effects of Immtech's drug candidates on the full Hepatitis C genome, in contrast to other tests that use only a portion of the Hepatitis C genome.
Stephen Thompson, President and CEO stated, "We believe a drug working earlier in the viral cycle could be more effective than other drugs. There is a great need for a new oral drug with improved efficacy and safety profiles to compliment the existing treatments. We are excited about the opportunity to validate the activity of our oral drugs in a full genome assay by an independent scientific group, and we are focused on rapidly moving the lead compound identified by this assay into pre-clinical and human trials."
About Immtech International Inc.
Immtech International, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of drugs for the treatment of fungal diseases, tuberculosis, hepatitis, pneumonia, diarrhea, and cancer. The Company has rights to a dicationic anti-microbial pharmaceutical platform and is conducting research to develop treatments for commercial use. These dication pharmaceuticals work by blocking life-sustaining enzymes from binding to the minor groove of an organism's DNA, thereby killing the infectious organisms that cause fungal, parasitic, bacterial and viral diseases. For further information, please visit the Company's web site at www.immtech-international.com.
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding Immtech International, Inc.'s business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report or Form 10-KSB for the most recently ended fiscal year.
CONTACT: Padilla Speer Beardsley, New York Karen Blass, 212/752-8338, kblass@psbpr.com
SOURCE: Immtech International Inc.
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