PALO ALTO, Calif., Aug. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Telik, Inc. (Nasdaq: TELK) today announced that the positive results from a Phase 1 multicenter, dose escalation study of ezatiostat hydrochloride (TELINTRA, TLK199) tablets in patients with Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) have been published in a leading peer reviewed journal, Blood, 25 June 2009; Vol. 113, No. 26, pp. 6533-6540. Positive results from a separate Phase 1-2a study in MDS patients involving an intravenous formulation of TELINTRA were published earlier in the Journal of Hematology and Oncology,13 May 2009; Vol. 2, No.20, pp. 20-32. The findings reported from these studies support the further development of TELINTRA. Phase 2 studies are ongoing in MDS (enrollment completion expected by year end), and Severe Chronic Idiopathic Neutropenia. Reprints of both publications are available from Telik.

Background on MDS and TELINTRA

MDS is a heterogeneous group of blood stem cell disorders of increasing incidence. MDS is characterized by ineffective blood cell production involving one or more of the red cell, white cell or platelet lineages and with MDS patients having a variable risk of progression to leukemia. There remains a need for effective, well tolerated therapies for MDS having novel mechanisms of action. TELINTRA has a novel mechanism of action that inhibits a target enzyme called glutathione S- transferase P1-1 which in turn facilitates the activation of JNK kinase, a key regulator of cellular growth and differentiation of blood. TELINTRA has been shown to stimulate normal multilineage differentiation of blood stem cell precursors and induce cancer cell death in human leukemia cell lines. Additional information on TELINTRA is available at www.telik.com.

About Telik

Telik, Inc. of Palo Alto, CA, is a clinical stage drug development company focused on discovering and developing small molecule drugs to treat cancer and inflammatory diseases. The company's most advanced investigational drug candidates in clinical development are TELINTRA, a modified glutathione analog for the treatment of cytopenias due to myelodysplastic syndrome or chemotherapy, and TELCYTA((R)), a tumor-activated prodrug for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. Telik's product candidates were discovered using its proprietary drug discovery technology, TRAP((R)), which enables the rapid and efficient discovery of small molecule drug candidates.

TELIK, the Telik logo, TELINTRA, TELCYTA and TRAP are trademarks or registered trademarks of Telik, Inc.

SOURCE Telik, Inc.

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