Gentium Announces an Abstract for Defibrotide in the Prevention of Hepatic VOD has been Granted the Prestigious Van Bekkum Award by the EBMT

VILLA GUARDIA, Italy, Feb. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Gentium S.p.A. (Nasdaq: GENT) today announced that the abstract titled, "Defibrotide prevents hepatic VOD and reduces significantly VOD-associated complications in children at high risk: final results of a prospective phase II/III multicentre study," has been awarded the Van Bekkum Award for the best abstract submitted to the physician's program for the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation's (EBMT) 36th Annual Meeting, to be held in Vienna, March 21-24, 2010. The abstract will be presented by Selim Corbacioglu, MD, University of Regensburg (Germany), at the opening session of the annual meeting (Hall A) on Sunday, March 21, 2010 at 7:20 PM local time.  

Defibrotide will also be featured in a satellite symposium entitled, "Defibrotide for the prevention and treatment of hepatic veno-occlusive disease following stem cell transplantation," on Sunday March 21 from 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM local time in the Austria Center, Hall G/H.  A separate abstract, "Defibrotide protects human microvascular endothelial cells from fludarabine-mediated pro-inflammatory and pro-apoptotic signals: a microarray (Affimetrix) analysis," will also be presented on Tuesday, March 23 from 5:30 PM until 7:00 PM at the poster session (P 908).  

About the EBMT and the Van Bekkum Award

The European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) is a European non-profit organization that was established in 1974 to allow scientists and physicians involved in clinical bone marrow transplantation to share their experience and develop cooperative studies.  The Van Bekkum award is named for Dr. Dirk Van Bekkum, who is internationally recognized for his work in bone marrow transplantation; among other achievements, his laboratory was the first to identify what is now known to be graft versus host disease.

About VOD

Veno-occlusive disease is a potentially life-threatening condition, which typically occurs as an important complication of stem cell transplantation. Certain high-dose chemo-radiation therapy regimens used as part of SCT can damage the lining cells of hepatic blood vessels and so result in VOD, a blockage of the small veins of the liver that leads to liver failure and can result in significant dysfunction in other organs such as the kidneys and lungs (so-called severe VOD). SCT is a frequently used treatment modality following high-dose chemotherapy and radiation therapy for hematologic cancers and other conditions in both adults and children.  There is currently no approved agent for the treatment or prevention of VOD in the US or the EU.

About Gentium

Gentium S.p.A., located in Como, Italy, is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and manufacture of drugs to treat and prevent a variety of diseases and conditions, including vascular diseases related to cancer and cancer treatments. Defibrotide, the Company's lead product candidate, is an investigational drug that has been granted Orphan Drug status by the U.S. FDA and Orphan Medicinal Product Designation by the European Commission both to treat and to prevent VOD and Fast Track Designation by the U.S. FDA to treat VOD.

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SOURCE Gentium S.p.A.