UWCCC enrolls first patient in Phase 1-2 PET imaging trial of LIGHT for solid tumors

Novelos Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCQX: NVLT), a pharmaceutical company developing novel drugs for the treatment and diagnosis of cancer, today announced that the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center (UWCCC), a leading oncology research institution, has enrolled the first patient in a Phase 1-2 positron emission tomography (PET) imaging trial of I-124-CLR1404 (LIGHT), a cancer-targeted PET imaging agent, in patients with nine solid tumor types, including triple negative breast, soft tissue sarcoma, colorectal, gastric, esophageal, prostate, ovarian, pancreatic and head & neck cancer.  Details of the trial design are available at www.clinicaltrials.gov ID: NCT01662284, or at www.novelos.com in the 'Clinical Trials' section.  Glenn Liu, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of the Cancer Therapy Discovery and Development (Phase I) Program at the UWCCC, is the trial's principal investigator.

"We are pleased to begin enrollment in this trial to evaluate LIGHT across multiple solid tumor types," said Dr. Liu.  "Oncologists are in need of better tools to diagnose patients more accurately and LIGHT has the potential to improve upon currently used standard approaches.  Accurate diagnosis of local, regional and distant metastatic spread is critical for optimal management and improved accuracy of staging may also spare patients the morbidity of unnecessary, non-curative surgical procedures."

"We are very pleased to be expanding our collaboration with the UW Carbone Cancer Center," said Harry Palmin, President and CEO of Novelos.  "Having demonstrated initial positive LIGHT imaging data in lung and brain cancer patients this year, we now look forward to obtaining initial LIGHT imaging data across nine other solid tumor indications starting in the first quarter of 2013.  We believe additional positive data will further establish proof-of-concept for LIGHT as a PET imaging agent in multiple cancer indications as well as guide selection of indications and trial designs for Phase 2 clinical trials with I-131-CLR1404 (HOT).  HOT is our chemically identical small-molecule, broad-spectrum, cancer-targeted molecular radiotherapeutic that delivers cytotoxic radiation directly and selectively to cancer cells and cancer stem cells."

SOURCE Novelos Therapeutics, Inc.