Soligenix Announces Issuance of New Patents for Dusquetide

PRINCETON, N.J., April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Soligenix, Inc. (OTCQB: SNGX) (Soligenix or the Company), a late-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing products to treat rare diseases where there is an unmet medical need, announced today that the Chinese Patent Office intends to grant the patent entitled "Novel Peptides for Treating and Preventing Immune-Related Disorders, Including Treating and Preventing Infection by Modulating Innate Immunity."  The newly issued patent claims composition of matter of dusquetide (research name: SGX94) and related analogs. Dusquetide recently demonstrated positive results in a Phase 2 oral mucositis clinical trial. China now becomes the most recent jurisdiction to grant patent coverage over the composition of matter of dusquetide.  Similar claims have been granted in the United States, Australia, Israel, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Singapore, South Africa and Taiwan. Furthermore, Soligenix is expecting to be granted similar protections in other important jurisdictions, including Europe, in the very near term.

Soligenix recently reported positive Phase 2 results with SGX942, its drug product containing dusquetide, in the treatment of oral mucositis in head and neck cancer patients.  SGX942 at a dose of 1.5 mg/kg successfully reduced the median duration of severe oral mucositis by 50% in all patients and by 67% in patients receiving the most aggressive chemoradiation therapy for treatment of their head and neck cancer.  In addition to the oral mucositis findings, an increased incidence of "complete response" of tumor at the one month follow-up visit was observed (47% in placebo versus 63% in SGX942 at 1.5 mg/kg).  Decreases in infection rate were also observed with SGX942 treatment.

The new patents correspond to US patent 8,124,721, granted on February 28, 2012, that primarily included composition of matter claims and therapeutic use claims in infectious disease for dusquetide.   

"Soligenix continues to pursue broad patent coverage for its dusquetide technology, first with composition of matter claims followed by therapeutic use claims in oral mucositis," stated Christopher J. Schaber, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Soligenix.  "Most recently, we were granted a composition of matter patent in China, which is of significant importance to us, as well as to SciClone Pharmaceuticals, Inc., our commercial partner for the Greater China market. The composition of matter patents are generally valid until 2028. The therapeutic use claims in oral mucositis will follow in the same jurisdictions, providing extended intellectual property coverage."

About Oral Mucositis

Mucositis is the clinical term for damage done to the mucosa by anticancer therapies.  It can occur in any mucosal region, but is most commonly associated with the mouth, followed by the small intestine.  It is estimated, based upon review of historic published studies and reports and an interpolation of data on the incidence of mucositis, that mucositis affects approximately 500,000 people in the US per year and occurs in 40% of patients receiving chemotherapy. Mucositis can be severely debilitating and can lead to infection, sepsis, the need for parenteral nutrition and narcotic analgesia. The gastrointestinal damage causes severe diarrhea. These symptoms can limit the doses and duration of cancer treatment, leading to sub-optimal treatment outcomes.

The mechanisms of mucositis have been extensively studied and have been recently linked to the interaction of chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy with the innate defense system.  Bacterial infection of the ulcerative lesions is now regarded as a secondary consequence of dysregulated local inflammation triggered by therapy-induced cell death, rather than as the primary cause of the lesions.

It is estimated, based upon review of historic published studies and reports and an interpolation of data on the incidence of oral mucositis, that oral mucositis in head and neck cancer is a subpopulation of approximately 90,000 patients in the US, with a comparable number in Europe.  Oral mucositis almost always occurs in patients with head and neck cancer treated with chemoradiation therapy (>80% incidence of severe mucositis) and is common (40-100% incidence) in patients undergoing high dose chemotherapy and hematopoietic cell transplantation, where the incidence and severity of oral mucositis depends greatly on the nature of the conditioning regimen used for myeloablation.

Oral mucositis in head and neck cancer remains an area of unmet medical need where there are currently no approved drug therapies.

About SGX942

SGX942 is an innate defense regulator (IDR), which contains a new class of short, synthetic peptide, having the chemical name dusquetide. It has a novel mechanism of action in that it modulates the body's reaction to both injury and infection towards an anti-inflammatory and an anti-infective response. IDRs have no direct antibiotic activity but, by modulating the host's innate immune system responses, increase survival after infections with a broad range of bacterial Gram-negative and Gram-positive pathogens. It also accelerates resolution of tissue damage following exposure to a variety of agents including bacterial pathogens, trauma and chemo- and/or radiation therapy. Preclinical efficacy and safety has been demonstrated in numerous animal disease models including mucositis, colitis, melioidosis and other bacterial infections.

SGX942 has demonstrated safety in a Phase 1 clinical study in 84 healthy human volunteers.  Recently, SGX942 has demonstrated preliminary efficacy and safety in an exploratory Phase 2 clinical study in 111 patients with oral mucositis due to chemoradiation (CRT) therapy for head and neck cancer. Consistent with preclinical findings, SGX942 at a dose of 1.5 mg/kg demonstrated positive improvements in decreasing the duration of severe oral mucositis by 50% overall compared to the placebo group, from 18 days to 9 days (p=0.099).  In patients exposed to the most aggressive concomitant chemotherapy, the reduction in the duration of severe oral mucositis was even more significant at 67% when treated with SGX942 1.5 mg/kg, from 30 days to 10 days (p=0.04).  The p-values meet the prospectively defined statistical threshold of p<0.1 in the study protocol.Additional observations included an improved tumor response to CRT therapy at the one month follow up visit (47% in placebo versus 63% in SGX942 at 1.5 mg/kg), as well as decreases in infection rate.

Dusquetide and related analogs have a strong intellectual property position, including composition of matter.  Dusquetide was developed pursuant to discoveries made by Professors B. Brett Finlay, PhD and Robert Hancock, PhD of the University of British Columbia, Canada.

SGX942 has received fast track designation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of oral mucositis as a result of radiation and/or chemotherapy treatment in head and neck cancer patients. Fast track is a designation that the FDA reserves for a drug intended to treat a serious or life-threatening condition and one that demonstrates the potential to address an unmet medical need for the condition. Fast track designation is designed to facilitate the development and expedite the review of new drugs. For instance, should events warrant, Soligenix will be eligible to submit a new drug application (NDA) for SGX942 on a rolling basis, permitting the FDA to review sections of the NDA prior to receiving the complete submission. Additionally, NDAs for fast track development programs ordinarily will be eligible for priority review, which imparts an abbreviated review time of approximately six months.

About Soligenix, Inc.

Soligenix is a late-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing products to treat rare diseases where there is an unmet medical need.  Our BioTherapeutics business segment is developing SGX301 as a first-in-class photodynamic therapy utilizing safe visible light for the treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, proprietary formulations of oral beclomethasone 17,21-dipropionate (BDP) for the prevention/treatment of gastrointestinal (GI) disorders characterized by severe inflammation including pediatric Crohn's disease (SGX203) and acute radiation enteritis (SGX201), and our novel innate defense regulator technology (SGX942) for the treatment of oral mucositis and infectious disease.

Our Vaccines/BioDefense business segment includes active development programs for RiVax^™, our ricin toxin vaccine candidate, OrbeShield^®, our GI acute radiation syndrome therapeutic candidate and SGX943, our melioidosis therapeutic candidate.  The development of our vaccine programs incorporates the use of our proprietary heat stabilization platform technology, known as ThermoVax^®. Currently, this business segment is supported with up to $57 million in government grant and contract funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

For further information regarding Soligenix, Inc., please visit the Company's website at www.soligenix.com.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements that reflect Soligenix, Inc.'s current expectations about its future results, performance, prospects and opportunities, including but not limited to, potential market sizes, patient populations and clinical trial enrollment.  Statements that are not historical facts, such as "anticipates," "estimates," "believes," "intends," "potential," or similar expressions, are forward-looking statements.  These statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results in future periods to differ materially from what is expressed in, or implied by, these statements.  Soligenix cannot assure you that it will be able to successfully develop, achieve regulatory approval for or commercialize products based on its technologies, including SGX942, particularly in light of the significant uncertainty inherent in developing vaccines against bioterror threats conducting preclinical and clinical trials of vaccines, obtaining regulatory approvals and manufacturing vaccines, that product development and commercialization efforts will not be reduced or discontinued due to difficulties or delays in clinical trials or due to lack of progress or positive results from research and development efforts, that it will be able to successfully obtain any further funding to support product development and commercialization efforts, including grants and awards, maintain its existing grants which are subject to performance requirements, enter into any biodefense procurement contracts with the US Government or other countries, that it will be able to compete with larger and better financed competitors in the biotechnology industry, that changes in health care practice, third party reimbursement limitations and Federal and/or state health care reform initiatives will not negatively affect its business, or that the US Congress may not pass any legislation that would provide additional funding for the Project BioShield program.  Positive results from the Phase 2 study evaluating SGX942 does not ensure that the follow-on Phase 2/3 clinical study will be successful. These and other risk factors are described from time to time in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, Soligenix's reports on Forms 10-Q and 10-K.  Unless required by law, Soligenix assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events.

SOURCE Soligenix, Inc.

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