Zabecor Pharmaceuticals initiates Phase II clinical trial of its Excellair asthma drug

ZaBeCor Pharmaceuticals ("ZaBeCor" or the "Company") announced today the initiation of a Phase II clinical trial for its asthma drug candidate Excellair™, following the successful results of the Company's Phase I clinical trials. ZaBeCor is one of the first companies to deliver siRNA to the lung and one of the first to target asthma with siRNA.

"The advancement of Excellair™ into a Phase II clinical trial for asthma is a significant milestone for our company," said Alan D. Schreiber, M.D., Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ZaBeCor. "We believe that Excellair™ has the potential to provide significant therapeutic benefits for patients with asthma worldwide and we look forward to the Phase II efficacy trial."

In the Phase I study, patients with asthma received 21 consecutive daily doses of Excellair™. Excellair™ was well tolerated by all patients (100%), with no serious adverse effects. In addition, 75% of patients with asthma who received Excellair™ reported improved ability to breathe freely or reduced use of their rescue inhaler. No patients on placebo reported improvement.

"These positive Phase I results indicate that Excellair™ is well-tolerated in patients with asthma," Schreiber said. "These developments reinforce ZaBeCor's pioneering status in developing RNAi therapeutics for asthma and other inflammatory disorders, and build upon the foundation of our strong intellectual property for siRNA targeting Syk kinase."

Excellair™ is part of ZaBeCor's intellectual property portfolio and focuses on applications of siRNA to the signaling protein Syk kinase. Some of the current treatments for asthma and other inflammatory conditions, such as leukotriene inhibitors or TNF inhibitors, inhibit only one of the mediators of inflammation. By targeting Syk kinase, Excellair™ seeks to inhibit an initial signaling step of inflammation, thereby preventing the release of multiple inflammatory mediators.

In addition to asthma, the Company believes that Excellair™ may have the potential to treat many different inflammatory diseases, including allergic rhinitis, rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular disease and other inflammatory disorders.