ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc. (Nasdaq: ZIOP) announced today that it has received a Notice of Allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for Application Serial No. 11/257,766 entitled “Salts of Isophosphoramide mustard and analogs thereof as anti-tumor agents” with claims directed to compounds, pharmaceutical compositions, and lyophilisates. These claims cover the Company’s proprietary palifosfamide composition (ZIO-201 or ZymafosTM). The Company has recently reported positive randomized Phase II sarcoma interim data for intravenous palifosfamide at the Annual Meeting of the Connective Tissue Oncology Society (CTOS) on November 6, 2009 and expects, following U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review, to initiate a registration trial the first half of 2010.
“Salts of Isophosphoramide mustard and analogs thereof as anti-tumor agents”
ZIOPHARM has also recently been granted United States Patent No. 7,619,000 covering the oral administration of various organic arsenic compounds, including darinaparsin, for the treatment of cancer. Darinaparsin (ZIO-101 or ZinaparTM) is a novel mitochondrial-targeted agent having been studied intravenously in Phase II for the treatment of lymphoma while the oral form continues in Phase I study for both hematological malignancies and solid tumors. The Company also expects to initiate a registration trial for darinaparsin in peripheral T-cell lymphoma following FDA review.