Cancer publishes Aeterna Zentaris' perifosine Phase 2 trials in RCC

Aeterna Zentaris Inc. (NASDAQ: AEZS) (TSX: AEZ) (the "Company") today announced that data from two Phase 2 trials in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) for the Company's oral anticancer drug, perifosine, have been published in the June 2012 issue of Cancer, a publication of the American Cancer Society.

 The article is titled, "Two Phase 2 Trials of the Novel Akt Inhibitor Perifosine in Patients with Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma After Progression on Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-Targeted Therapy", D.C. Cho, T.E. Hutson, W. Samlowski, P. Sportelli, B. Somer, P. Richards, J.A. Sosman, I. Puzanov, M.D. Michaelson, K.T. Flaherty, R.A. Figlin and N.J. Vogelzang. It outlines perifosine's activity as monotherapy in patients with advanced RCC, which was comparable to current second-line agents. Both objective tumor responses and prolonged disease stability were observed, and perifosine was well tolerated at the 100mg daily dose used in this trial. Finally, the authors conclude that this compound may be worthy of further investigation in this indication in combination with available therapies.

SOURCE AETERNA ZENTARIS INC.